Blue Dogs Set on More Sabotage

It's spring in D.C., and you can't walk across the street without stepping in Blue Dog Shit.

These DINO obstructionists aren't legislating, they're not moderating, they're not doing anything centrist. They're posturing. Because 30 years after their caucus was created, they can't admit the problem they set out to solve doesn't exist any more.

Back in the '70s, there actually was a liberal Democratic majority in Congress that stymied a lot of Jimmy Carter's projects because he wouldn't go along with their demands for full employment, massive urban renewal and curbs on corporate excess.

But even if you think that barely-leftist agenda needed a moderate counterweight, today's Congressional Democrats are well to the right of the Carter-era republicans. What Congressional dems need today is something that pulls them far left - almost back to where the center was 30 years ago.

But the Blue Dogs just can't let go. They've got an overwhelmingly popular Democratic president who is a genuine moderate whose proposals form the most realistic, pragmatic, uselful and necessary program of any president since FDR, and they can't stand it.

They got elected and built their careers on the myth that they were the only thing standing between their constituents and democratic anarchy, so they've lost their whole excuse for existence. If they don't knee-jerk reject everything President Obama proposes, they can't do anything at all.

So they prance around bleating "moderate!" and sulking until they get changes that gut good bills and can crow to the TV cameras that they saved the republic.

Their latest sabotage is aimed at the cap-and-trade plan to slow global warming.

It's always been an intractable political issue, but the number of reports indicating that new cap-and-trade legislation is hitting a lot of snags is remarkable for a couple reasons. The first is that the bill in question--the American Clean Energy and Security Act--has been introduced in the House, where legislation can be fast tracked much more easily than it can in the Senate. The second is that it's lead sponsor, Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Henry Waxman (D-CA), is an extremely talented legislator, who has put a tremendous number of professional resources into making sure the government addresses climate change.

Almost two weeks ago, worried that the bill would stall, Waxman had to delay its first markup hearing. Then, last week, a rift emerged between Waxman and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, over the viability of passing major energy legislation this year. Now, House Blue Dogs are trying to torpedo the bill, and Waxman has been put in the position of promising to provide manufacturers and energy producers with billions of dollars worth of free pollution permits under its terms.

And that's all before there's been a single vote on it. We'll keep tracking the bill's progress. Climate change legislation reportedly remains President Obama's and Speaker Pelosi's chief legislative priority. But these developments must come as unwelcome news both to them and to the environmentalists who came out quickly in praise of the bill when it was released earlier this spring.

A prominent member of the Blue Dogs, of course, is Kentucky's own DINO Extraordinaire Ben Chandler. Benny Boy hasn't exactly made his position on cap-and-trade public, but given that stopping cap-and-trade would make Kentucky's coal industry grateful to the tune of millions in campaign cash, I can't imagine he's a vote Waxman's counting on.

Clean Up D.C. - Cage the Blue Dogs!

Cross-posted at They Gave Us A Republic ...