Posted by
Andrews on Thursday, February 26, 2009 4:14:29 PM
I earlier wrote that congress plans to use Obama as its catspaw, enacting as much of their agenda as they can during his first six months or year, and then, when his popularity ebbs, to turn on him, blame him for the problems, distance themselves by obstructing him, and try to regain seats in 2010. I doubt this was their original plan, but having seen the writing on the wall in his precipitous decline int he polls, I think they have settled on this agenda as the best return on their investment in Obama.
And it appears
Robert Byrd agrees:
In a letter he sent to Obama on Monday, Byrd expressed his
displeasure at the increasing number of policy positions being created
in the White House, registering his fear that those officials would
usurp the authority of Cabinet secretaries. "Too often, I have seen
these lines of authority and responsibility become tangled and blurred,
sometimes purposely, to shield information and to obscure the
decision-making process," wrote Byrd, the self-described
"constitutional conscience of the Senate." . . .
As the foremost defender of Senate prerogatives, Byrd is
concerned that these new "czars" will assume vast policymaking
authority without being answerable to Congress.
When a savvy old campaigner like Byrd is making preemptive criticisms of Obama, it can only mean congress is getting ready to distance itself. It may be a while yet, as congress may think they can milk another round of pork or a few more bits of legislation out of him, but it is also evident Byrd is already preparing what I can only call "plausible deniability" concerning cooperation with the Obama White House. Granted, he is couching it in terms of senatorial authority, but he said little enough about that when Obama was legislating through executive order immediately after inauguration, when his polls were much higher. So I have a feeling that may be a bit of a smokescreen.
Have we ever had a turn around quite this dramatic? From Messiah to Mess in just over a month?
POSTSCRIPT
And yes,
Best of the Web did point out this quote to me.