Once Al Franken gets seated, the Democrats will have 60 votes in the Senate. That means no more filibustering, my friends. Health care reform, alternative energy, cap and trade, education reform--you name, it just got a lot more likely.
Also, I want to address this point. A co-worker of mine just said "Specter switching is bad because America is better off with split government which leads to more bi-partisanship."
As ironic as it seems, I think that might be completely wrong at this point in time. We may end up with more bipartisanship because the Dems have 60 votes. I believe that Specter's decision may further split the GOP into two factions: one that wants to deal and affect legislation, and one that wants to remain ideologically pure yet utterly irrelevant.
Look at what happened with the agreement to do reconciliation for health care. Now, the GOP and assorted lobbies are forced to come to the table and craft a bill, rather than remaining secure in the knowledge that they can kill the whole thing with a filibuster. Now, the GOPs choices are stay home and have absolutely no influence, or come to the table and deal. With the president that we have, and what I believe is his sincere belief in bipartisanship, we may end up with more bipartisan legislation with more GOP votes, because Obama will want to get at least the more moderate wing of the GOP on board with his policies so that a national consensus is formed.
Its a beautiful day!
I think that is exactly right. On the other hand, the center is still going to be pretty far to the right, so I'm afraid the kinds of policies that might be achieved will be a mish-mash and not achieve fundamental change in alternative energy or health care, or anything else that is difficult.
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