Great speech. The key though, is how Obama and the Party respond to 59-41.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

The GOP has been blanket filibustering the majority of legislation this Congress, and they get to turn it into a mostly "do nothing" Congress without paying any political price, so why wouldn't they (we already know they don't actually care about governing)? So I expect them to continue doing exactly the same thing.

I'm glad President Obama called attention to this, but he didn't spell out a clear way forward (I know it's up to the Dem Congressional delegation).

If the Party simply accepts the framework that, well, the rules are different for Democrats and Democrats need 60 votes to pass any legislation, they are doomed and deserve to lose power, and Obama will go down with them.

They need to do something. Blunt the filibuster by changing the rules, nuclear option or whatever, some intermediate change. Utilizing reconciliation. Exact a cost by either making filibusters stop all legislative business, or returning to old style "Mr. Smith" filibusters, make the GOP read the phone book like douchebags on camera.

Something. Anything but what has been going on. This is the test that the Brown election in MA has put on the Democrats, and we must see what the response is.

[boston bean]

1. just threaten the nuclear option, it worked wonders for the gop...

[boston bean]

2. just threaten the nuclear option, it worked wonders for the gop...

[veganlush]

3. I know, can you beleive they are gonna sit there..

..and try nothing? I just got off the phone with someone at Senator Levin's office and I posed the Nuclear Option to him. He said it has to be proposed as a rule change at the begining of a congress and that maybe they could do it next January, but no sooner.

I mentioned getting some changes done to the senate bill through reconciliation and he said there are limits to what you can do with that and I said why is it that bush got things done with that, and all we do is wring our hands about "limitations". He said don't lose faith, they're working on it.

I hope everyone on DU will take a minute each day to call their Senators and Reps and keep the pressure on, I know many of you already do this but we need every voice we can get.

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: