With Reid as Majority Leader we may be in trouble getting Obama's cabinet

[AlinPA]

through the Senate; Republicans may threaten filibusters or disruption and Reid will yield to their demands. Who can take the lead now?

[Pab Sungenis]

1. Reid has to go.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4775536&mesg_id=4775536

[WI_DEM]

2. I doubt it.

[Blarch]

3. "doubt it"

Where the fuck have you been? Reid caves into EVERYTHING.

[karynnj]

4. Obama's cabinet will be first addressed by the appropriate committees

and the committee chairs typically guide the nominations through. Most seem like they will be pretty non-controversial. Which nominations do you think will be problems? (If the vetting is good - they should pass easily)

[AlinPA]

5. All of them. The republicans can just filibuster and stop progress. They

do not want Obama to succeed in anything.

[karynnj]

6. I don't see it happening - we do not need many Republican votes

and likely will get all Democratic ones. We need IL and MN seated though to get those two votes - and IL may take a lot.

The fact is that any nominee you can name will have some support from Republicans.

[AlinPA]

8. If Coleman draws things out in MN, it could be a long time (months) before we get that vote.

IL is a mess and unless the state gets moving, that could be a long time as well. I don't see any republican support except for the secretaries of Defense (Gates) and Transportation (LaHood).

[karynnj]

10. The vast majority of the appointments shouldn't be controversial

I seriously doubt that HRC will have more "Nos" than Rice did - which was 13. There is a sense that the President gets his/her cabinet. Using that appointment as an example, the question is whether they would get someone they would like better than the centrist HRC. Unless there are some huge surprises in her hearing, I seriously don't see a problem.

Secretary of Energy? Chu is a Nobel Prize winning physicist - Now Senator Inhofe may not like him, but he will get most of the votes. Secretary of the interior? Salasar - as conservative a Democrat as you will find - and I've heard no negatives.

[AlinPA]

11. I hope you are right about that; I'm thinking the R's will hold up everything to prevent Obama from

governing. It doesn't matter that they are qualified. R's don't want Obama to make progress.

[alsame]

13. No kidding. Considering the incompetents, criminals and thugs

that Bush appointed and got approved, I will be livid if Obama's picks are challenged.

[redstate_democrat]

7. Obama is not gonna tolerate Reid's lack of a spine.

He already said there will be NO political posturing, ON EITHER SIDE. Reid may begin to feel his spine getting a little wiggly with regard to Panetta, but Obama will straighten it out. :P

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

9. Harry Reid is just so uncompelling and so lacking in persuasive power and presence

it's hard to see how he got to be majority leader unless it is just a plum given through seniority.

I can only think of a single time when I thought he did something worthwhile and that was when he apparently told W that he thought Harriet Meiers was a fine choice for the Supreme Court. At the time, I thought it was a brilliant strategy that led W into a whirlwind of ridicule and helped expose him (W) for the vacuous incompetent he is.

But now I am starting to wonder if maybe Harry Reid wasn't just fine with Harriet Meiers in reality and I was giving him the benefit of a brilliance he didn't deserve.

[OwnedByFerrets]

12. MAY? There is NO doubt about it.

[ProSense]

14. Harry Reid has nothing to do with the confirmation process.

Republican threats to filibuster are BS.

[gravity]

15. Obama's cabinet will get through fine

I don't like Reid that much, but the Republicans aren't going to have the power to do much in the Senate to begin with.

[Telly Savalas]

16. Why?

From what I've read here, Obama's picks should appeal to Republicans.