An editorial I never thought I would ever read.

[Mass]

A columnist from the Washington Post departing from the traditional Kerry aloof meme and calling Democrats to emulate Kerry's passion on other topics!

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_passionless_party_20100630/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Truthdig+Truthdig:+Drilling+Beneath+the+Headlines

By E.J. Dionne, Jr.

One of the strangest lead sentences I have ever encountered appeared in Politico last week. It read: “John Kerry has been the most aggressive advocate of climate change legislation in the Senate this year—so aggressive that it’s rubbed some of his colleagues the wrong way.”

The story went on to say that Kerry’s “zeal” is “making some swing-vote Democrats cringe at the thought of negotiating with someone they fear is tone-deaf to the political realities of their respective states—particularly in a difficult midterm elections year.”

So there you have it: Once criticized for being too aloof and patrician, Kerry is now being assailed for daring to have passion for the cause of reducing the amount of carbon we are pumping into the atmosphere.

Note that none of this is about the legislative merits. Kerry is being criticized for caring too much about an issue and not thinking enough about an election—for being insufficiently opportunistic and unprincipled.

And Democrats wonder why the polls find an “enthusiasm gap” that suggests their supporters will sit around grumpily in November while Republicans flood the polling places.
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But either Obama and the Democrats really believe that giving the economy another shot in the arm now is essential, or they don’t. If they put no punch behind their argument, voters will have no idea that some state cutbacks or tax hikes they are worried about could be avoided if Congress were willing to act.
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[MBS]

1. wow-the whole column is good

thanks for passing this to us!

I also liked these excerpts:

. . .Which brings us back to Kerry, who in an interview made no apologies for his eagerness to get an energy bill. What’s striking is that he has negotiated with every industry and trade group imaginable to find a deal. If he’s passionate about this, he’s also been relentlessly practical.

And he notes that many businesses groups would prefer Congress to deal with the carbon question. “They see it coming from the EPA and regulation, and they would rather have us legislate,” he said. Kerry’s persistence is one reason why the Senate leadership and a White House with which he’s been working closely are still trying to push an energy bill through.

Someone needs to find the same pugnacious spirit on a jobs bill. . .

The Obama of 2008 understood how to define the stakes and how to rouse the faithful with both reason and passion. What happened to that guy? /div]

[Inuca]

3. "pugnacious spirit" - nicely put

Good morning MBS! (we posted at the same time :-))

[MBS]

4. this part is also good

It might help if voters saw President Obama and his party in Congress fighting for something going into these elections (including their record on health care and financial reform) rather than reacting, retrenching and retreating. Kerry's attitude is not the problem. It's part of the solution.

. . just read the whole thing! I posted url to original Washington Post, in "editorials and other articles"

[Inuca]

2. I always liked Dionne n/t

[karynnj]

5. This is fantastic - it really describes things more the way all of us have seen them

That Politico article really said more about the reporter - none of it good.

[wisteria]

6. What great commentary. And, I like that it comes at a time when some are suggesting he will be

replaced by Bingaman as the point man. To do this would be so wrong. What is it with our leadership and Senator Kerry. No matter who leads on this bill, the Repubs are going to trash that person. And, how foolish to make Bingaman the point man when he doesn't show the same drive and passion for the issue as Kerry does. It is easy to become disenchanted with the Democrats when they do things like this.

Bu, I particularly liked this comment in the piece,

"Kerry’s attitude is not the problem. It’s part of the solution."

[karynnj]

7. I suggest that this "suggestion" like the idea that "it would be an energy only" bill

and the idea "that Liebermen, Baucus and Bingaman" would be writing it are all the media reporting things they are hearing from staffers with agendas.

Following it, what seems clear is that we are getting to the point where Reid will create a bill based on the pieces. The critical question of whether there will be a price for carbon is yes - though it may just be on electric power generation. Though obviously this is less than any of us would have wanted, two things make me think it's not all that bad.

Those things are - it should run very smoothly because of the experience with the acid rain cap on the same entities. It works, they know it works and they know it is not something that will destroy them. The second thing is that if this goes smoothly and moves things quickly in the right direction, there is always the possibility of adding caps on other segments in new legislation.

The other recent articles - suggesting that now Bingaman or anyone else can push it forward, while Kerry can't, ignores the elephant in the room - everyone important here knows that if a cap is passed, the one who really convinced people to get behind it is Kerry. It certainly was not Bingaman, who three weeks ago was (with Dorgan) the leading proponent for an energy only bill. The fact is if a real climate change bill passes, the man in the Senate who will get and deserve the most credit is Kerry. The other person to get credit will be the President, because the President always get credit (just as Bush gets tons of credit for dealing with AIDS in Africa - through Kerry, Frist and Biden (it was in Pepar, the SFRC bill). )

Though it did not become law, do you think of the 2006/2007 comprehensive immigration legislation as a McConnell bill or McCain/Kennedy? Even when people speak of reusing parts of it they speak of Kennedy and McCain

[wisteria]

8. True. I just hate the chatter against Senator Kerry and his efforts.

But, the point is to get something passed and if it does, as you said, we all know who was behind it all.