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Has Barack Obama misused the House?
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| Contributor | Scott³ |
| Last Edited | Scott³ Sep 08, 2009 09:25am |
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| Category | News |
| Author | DAVID ROGERS |
| News Date | Tuesday, September 8, 2009 03:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | "As he retools his health care strategy before Wednesday’s speech to Congress, President Obama might want to rethink how he uses the House to get there.
For much of this year, House Democrats have served as Obama’s expendable shock troops, able to move quickly and put pressure on the Senate to strike a deal. This was true for the president’s economic recovery bill last January and climate change legislation in June, and even after all the setbacks of the past month, Obama still seems to be looking past the House to the Senate on health care.
The president’s Senate background and the combative nature of the House veterans on his staff, like White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, contribute to this mind-set. But it ignores two realities: The Senate is not what it used to be, and the historic strength of the House——the “people’s” chamber with a Rules Committee able to structure votes and test competing policy options — better suits an issue as complex and personal as health care.
The great irony of the health care debate is that while the strength of the House is so often ignored in favor of the Senate, the Senate is becoming more and more like the House — only a dysfunctional version.
In another era, the Senate might have been the logical crucible for great compromises. But the separation between governing and the constant campaign — what made the Senate into George Washington’s famous saucer to cool the ardor of the House — has largely disappeared.
After months of labor, Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has a real plan in hand to try to win bipartisan support. But the August uproar and Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley’s fears of a 2010 primary challenger underscore the risks still. And the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) last month was a reminder of how much the chamber changed in his lifetime to become a less personal, more partisan place increasingly dominated by former House members." |
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