Does The Acknowledgment Of Franken's Victory Mean Anything To America's Working Families?

Ken got all the news out immediately: the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled unanimously to dismiss defeated Senator Norm Coleman's frivolous law suit against Al Franken and Gov. Tim Pawlenty-- with no choice other than breaking the law-- agreed, if reluctantly, to allow his state to have two U.S. Senators just like states with normal governors. Having been informed by John Cornyn of the NRSC that the Republican Party wasn't spending any more than the million they'd already spent to forestall the inevitable, Coleman called Franken and conceded.

So now the Democrats have 60 votes and can stop all the knee jerk Republican filibusters and obstructionism and can do anything, right? No, not even close. Even if the House of Lords really worked that way-- which is doesn't-- Kennedy and Byrd may or may not return to the Senate; neither is well enough to vote. Ben Nelson, Blanche Lincoln, Joe Lieberman, Mark Pryor, Arlen Specter, Mary Landrieu, Max Baucus, Evan Bayh and, depending on the issue, any number of other junior presidents, aren't much more likely to vote for progressive legislation than... well, at least one Republican: Olympia Snowe-- and she isn't likely to vote for much at all. When Dick Durbin pointed out a month or so ago that the CEOs at the banks and Wall Street firms who dole out the campaign contributions to members of Congress-- like drug kingpins dribbling out heroin to addicts-- own the Senate, he wasn't kidding. Or exaggerating. Although it isn't only the banksters. It's the CEOs of Big Business in general who are calling the shots.

Pennywise and pound foolish, a kind way of saying "cheap and stupid," the American people have chosen the most corrupt possible system of campaign finance. It is virtually impossible to shake up the status quo when shaking it up adversely effects the bottom lines of the corporations financing the politicians making the decisions. It's that simple. Obama can intone "change" and "hope" all he wants; until there's real campaign finance reform-- and a non-corporate Supreme Court that will uphold it-- we are pretty much doomed to no change and to hopelessness. Yes, we deserve candidates and elected officials like Sarah Palin and Mark Sanford-- or the Oklahoma state legislature. On the other hand, there's always the chance that a corporation like WalMart will, for its own selfish reasons, line up behind something that is actually good for the public and then pull on the leash of the shills it owns-- like Blanche Lincoln.

I'm not a TV watcher and I don't think I ever saw Senator Al on Saturday Night Live. I read books, though, and I read all of his. I was absolutely hooked on Al when I read the uproarious-- ahead of its time-- Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot. The memories of that, particularly, persuaded me that Al would be a great addition to the U.S. Senate despite the rather tepid defense of progressive policies he always made on his so-so Air America show. Democrats saved him 4 committee assignments, one dealing with the health care reform fiasco that will either make the Democratic Party the dominant political force in the country for another decade or sink it utterly.

Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island has been temporarily filling the seat the Democrats reserved for Franken on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which has spent two weeks working on a complicated health-care overhaul that is expected to be completed July 10. The work on that bill has taken so long that Franken might still be able to
participate.

Franken had argued for the urgency of resolving the court case because of his interest in participating in the health debate, which Democrats call their top domestic priority.

In addition, Ron Wyden of Oregon has been serving temporarily in Franken's place on the Judiciary Committee, which has a hearing scheduled July 13 on President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor. Democrats hope to confirm her before the August recess.

Two other committee vacancies have been held open for Franken on the Special Aging and Indian Affairs panels.

Today at noon the DFL will hold a victory rally at the Minnesota State Capitol. If I were anywhere nearby that's where I'd be. Al'll be speaking. It took a helluva long time but the recognition of his victory neither guarantees that he'll be more like Durbin and Merkley and Sanders than like the moderate he always promised he'd be. And as for the Democrats using their filibuster-proof majority to do something for ordinary working families... don't make me laugh. They may be better than the Republicans, but that just makes them worthless instead of satanic. Today's NY Times says their campaign contributors' top priority is to kill an Obama initiative aimed at protecting consumers from bankster predators. Let's see which Democrats stick with Obama and their constituents and which ones go along with their paymasters at the Big Banks.

The agony of defeat from GOP-TV. Feel their pain: