Harry Reid, Man Up!

According to a story at Politico, Harry Reid is finding that being Senate Majority Leader is not all it's cracked up to be. The title is impressive, the article states, but his power is a mirage. Politico explains thusly:

There is no doubt he has the toughest job on Capitol Hill. He needs the blessing of 60 senators to do virtually anything of substance. Senators have expansive egos and often narrow interests. It's a devastating combination.

Later on in the article, Trent Lott pitches in to stick up for Reid, which I'll get to after the break. Reid himself complains that, on the most important issue facing our country, the Iraq war, his party doesn't even have a simple majority because of Joe Lieberman. He also talks about what he calls his "worst moment", see the video.

What can Harry do? He doesn't have sixty votes, Godfather. What can he do, Godfather?

<SLAP!> "He can ACT like a MAN!"

This story makes me feel like Godzilla, fighting Mothra and MechaGodzilla. I don't know who to shoot flames at first, Reid or Politico. Let me start with Politico, and save Mothra for later.

The article characterizes Reid as some kind of shootin' from the hip YoSenate Sam, always a-spoilin' fer a fight. This fits in nicely with the article's surprising background revelation that Reid once trained as a boxer. Unfortunately, it doesn't track with the Harry Reid that I've seen. The Harry I've seen gets hissy from time to time, and as he does in this article, talks a good game, but if he's Politico's idea of a firebrand...The guy doesn't generate enough electricity to power a solar calculator.

Politico also goes to great pains to point out, three separate times, that you gotta have 60 votes in the Senate to do anything. I'm going to destroy that idea later in this post, but for now, how about when the Republicans had the slim majority? Do you remember the Republicans having any trouble ramming anything they wanted past Reid and the Democrats? Or have I been watching the wrong Senate? This is the kind of media framing that allows the Democrats to take the blame for Republican obstruction. Here was Reid's genius response to this tactic.

Here's a mini-flame to Iowa Senator Tom Harkin for urging Reid to hike his skirt up a little further:

Tom Harkin... said he wished Reid would open up debate and the amendment process to Republicans.

"If you don't want to fight fires, don't become a firefighter," said Harkin, who has been frustrated by gridlock on his top priority, the five-year farm bill. "Sometimes the majority leader has to open it up." Of course, that would only invite more Republican mischief, such as offering poison pill amendments.

Now, on to Reid. Look, I know the guy maybe can't help being soft-spoken, so I'll leave the charisma issue at the door. You can make up for a lack of personal gravity through tough actions, a la Henry Waxman. What galls me is Reid's whining about not having the votes to end the war, and his leading role in every Democratic capitulation on Iraq legislation since they took power.

When they were in the minority, Reid and the Blue Dog Democrats let the Republicans pass every heinous bill, every appointment, the Republicans wanted, and even backed down to a GOP threat to do away with the filibuster. Now, they meekly accept that oppositon filibusters are the rule, rather than the exception.

Leaving that aside for the moment, why can't these guys can't outmaneuver a bunch of fifth-graders? The "You don't support the troops!" line that cows these guys every time Iraq funding comes up is the equivalent of, "Well, you have cooties." It's utter nonsense, and it works every time.

I say, Frak your 60 votes. Harry, you have all the votes you need, you got 'em in November. Here's what you do. Make an Iraq funding bill that has exactly what you want in it, political benchmarks with teeth, withdrawal deadlines, hell, throw in some iPods for your caucus, whatever. Personally, I'd like to see a provision that cuts funding, retroactively, to contractors using a statistical bid model in place of the bids that never took place.

Send that bill to the floor. If they want to filibuster, fine. Make 'em explain why they are blocking funding to the troops. Send that same bill to the floor again. And again. Trust me, eventually it will pass. Let the president veto it, and explain why he is denying the troops funding. See? It's simple. It's called politics. Look into it.