Well, it's the New Year and a new political season, so why should we expect anything other than raw, unadulterated presidentialism from the Beltway? That's what this Wall Street Journal story is all about - creating the belief that subservience and worship of the president - ie. presidentialism - is the Responsible and Serious Course of Action for a U.S. Congress that is constitutionally obligated to act as an equal branch of government:
WASHINGTON - Franklin D. Roosevelt launched the New Deal, and transformed American government, in just 100 days after his inauguration in part because the Congress of 1933 was one of the most subservient in American history. It's not clear Barack Obama will be as lucky...
"The house is burning down, and the president of the United States says this is the way to put out the fire," [Minority Leader Bertrand] Snell said of FDR, as recounted in Anthony Badger's FDR: The First Hundred Days. "And to me at this time, there is only one answer to that question, and that is to give the president what he demands and says is necessary to meet the situation."
Some question whether the current Democratic leaders have the temperament to keep their egos in check as their counterparts did 75 years ago.
"They have to stay behind the scenes. That's going to be hard; there are some big egos in Washington," Mr. Lichtman said. "Never underestimate the arrogance of power in Washington. The members of Congress are going to have to put aside their ego in implementing Obama's program." (emphasis added)
Look, I'm glad the Republicans rolled over during the New Deal, but I also don't think it's good for anything when Congress as an institution rolls over. The strength of our democracy is based on three functioning - EQUAL - branches of government. And frankly, watching Obama start to push conservative corporate tax cuts that the Democratic House already rejected should show progressives why we should want an emboldened Congress - not a subservient one. I say that especially considering the fact that many of the congressional chairpeople are among the most progressive lawmakers.
Lichtman uses polite Beltway doublespeak - "put aside their egos" - to advocate the most impolite of ideologies in a democracy: the kind that says our elected representatives ought to just bow down to the Dear Leader.
This is standard fare from the power-worshiping class in Washington - but we've already learned the dangers of a subservient Congress during George W. Bush's term. Though Obama is no Bush - not even close - the lessons are the same. When the legislative branch of government - the branch closest to the people - behaves like a rubber stamp, our country is worse off for it.
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