Today is a good day. We have a new Speaker, the first woman in that position, and a whole raft of Democratic elected officials coming into power. When you're in the minority, you have to rely on Senators to stand strong against an aggressive majority. House members can make statements, but in terms of governing ability they are irrelevant. The netroots, because we've largely been observing Congressional fights up close in a minority context, have become accustomed to a conciliatory set of leader-Senators on our side.
With the new majority, that's going to change radically. Congressmen in the House are much freer to be openly progressive, because they are responsive to smaller areas that are often urban and/or liberal. They don't have to appeal to a whole state, and they don't have to compromise with the other side to move legislation. They may choose to compromise, but it's not strictly necessary.
Along with this openly progressive nature, House leaders in the majority have a lot of power. Committee Chairmen have a lot more power than individual Senators because of their ability to gate-keep over legislation, and the non-conciliatory nature of the House versus the Senate. These are very different institutions.
Anyway, we're going to have to get used to a House caucus full of powerful liberal leaders who can do stuff. This means not obsessing on every word, as well as understanding legislation and governance. 'Message' isn't the only battlefield anymore, so our strategies and conversations are going to have to change and become smarter and more three dimensional. In addition, and I've been a blogger for four years, the culture has changed - there is a lot of respect for the netroots within the Democratic caucus, and that means we can actually do some work together.
It's going to be great to have allies, real allies with power, real allies that share our values. Imagine good faith dialogue where disagreement doesn't mean that your allies are evil. Yes, the ponies are here.
Anyway, here's some more crappy video.
Patrick Murphy:
Howard Dean:
Ahh, ponies and PAYGO, what could be better?
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