Right Wing Democrats Plot To Join GOP Reactionaries To Put Obama In His Place Right From Day One

All through the 1960s I had a hard time understanding why overwhelming Democratic majorities in Congress-- which also had a widely despised, impotent and irrelevant Republican minority-- couldn't get much progressive legislation passed. Eventually I figured out that Big Business may own the GOP outright but that it always wields enough power inside the Democratic Party to protect its interests, even when those interests are in direct opposition to those of the American people.

Despite McCain's deceitful propagandists claiming Obama was the #1 most liberal member of the Senate, Obama has always been a moderate-- and his voting record was the #45 most liberal in the Senate (out of 51 Democrats). He ran as a consensus-building moderate, very much in line with his voting record. In light of the sharp turn to the extreme right during the 8 years of the Bush Regime, Obama's moderate positions looked almost liberal... almost. So far he's more popular with liberal Democrats than he is with conservative Democrats or even with moderate Democrats, although this will change drastically as he continues to slap down progressives and their values. And most of Obama's cabinet comes from the same page he's on-- two exceptions being his right-leaning/pro-Big Business Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, and his progressive Labor Secretary, Rep. Hilda Solis.

But Obama the moderate was, thankfully, never really Obama the conservative. Corporate media is forever-- successfully-- blurring that distinction, always, militantly, referring to blatantly reactionary Democrats-- some as bad as Republicans-- as "moderates." Most Blue Dogs are not moderate-- although there are a few exceptions-- most are right-of-center reactionaries.

Now they are scheming with the GOP to torpedo the heart and soul of Obama's rescue plan for America, his stimulus package. With the Congressional Progressive Caucus, of which Solis is a member, hoping Obama will spend around a trillion dollars-- "anything much less than $1 trillion would be like trying to put out a forest fire with a squirt gun"-- corporate hacks (i.e., the entire Republican Party caucus plus the Blue Dogs and fellow travelers in the Democratic Party) are preparing to battle Obama in the name of "fiscal responsibility," something they seemed content enough to forget about while George Bush was combining systemic corruption, military adventurism, an orgy of corporate enrichment programs, a bailout program for the businesses that finance their political careers, and more corruption, to run up the worst and most damaging deficits in the history of our country-- and wrecking the economy in the process.

Reactionary Democrats in Congress-- Blue Dogs, DLC members and New Democrats-- make up 36.6% of the Democratic caucus in the Senate and 38.1% in the House, more than enough to wreck all of Obama's plans if they act in concert with each other and the Republicans. (Obama's cabinet is even more DLC-oriented than Congress.) Luckily for the national good, it isn't likely that they will be able to work in concert though. The new Blue Dog leader, far right Indiana Democrat Baron Hill, is already attacking Obama's plans for greening the stimulus package. Today's Washington Post has Obama meeting with Pelosi Monday to talk about the plans and what she can do to defang the worst of the Blue Dogs.

Sources said Obama and Pelosi will discuss the scope and timing of the economic recovery package, which Obama has said will be his first priority upon being sworn into office. Pelosi has said her goal is to have the legislation on the new president's desk and ready to be signed on Jan. 20.

But that schedule appears increasingly likely to slip, as Republicans and conservative Democrats are raising concerns about the impact on the federal deficit of spending hundreds of billions on an array of projects with little vetting by Congress. Lawmakers now expect a spending package of between $675 billion and $775 billion.

Obama will have a harder time in the Senate, where the GOP has effective veto power, especially if they are joined by a handful of reactionary Democrats. McConnell and his cohorts have every intention of using that power to thwart Obama and wreck his plans for an effective package, despite widespread support in the country for his plans and despite the damage it will do to the country.