Political irony
According to multiple sources (including the NYT and CNN) Senator Arlen Specter is switching parties and becoming a Democrat. If Al Franken ever gets seated, that means the Dems have, in theory, a filibuster-proof majority.
Two observations:
1. Enough of those 60 seats are Blue Dogs and conservative Dems, who have already shown that they'll be quite ruthless in blocking anything progressive. And it's not as if the vast majority of Dems and Obama himself are progressive in any case; they're not. Anyone who expects there to be a meaningful change in Washington is deluding themselves.
2. I find it ironic that the Dems have in theory gotten so close to absolute power less than a week after I stopped being a Democrat...after a lifetime of supporting them. So it goes.
Two observations:
1. Enough of those 60 seats are Blue Dogs and conservative Dems, who have already shown that they'll be quite ruthless in blocking anything progressive. And it's not as if the vast majority of Dems and Obama himself are progressive in any case; they're not. Anyone who expects there to be a meaningful change in Washington is deluding themselves.
2. I find it ironic that the Dems have in theory gotten so close to absolute power less than a week after I stopped being a Democrat...after a lifetime of supporting them. So it goes.