The Vermont Legislature has put on an… odd… display to say the least. They’ve set up a dynamic not unlike the one I faced in my High School biology class. At the beginning of the year the students were all told if our grades were higher on the standardized test at the end of the school year than they otherwise would’ve been, that the higher grade would go on the report card for the class. Naturally, after hearing that, I did nothing for the whole year and studied like hell in the last week to walk away with a B for the year, based only on my test performance.

The Vermont legislature has all its eggs in this final week’s basket as well. A good performance on the budget, the education issue and the energy bill will, if not leave them with a stellar grade, at least have the potential to shed them of the “do nothing” label that swings over them like a guillotine and leave them with a passing grade, if barely.

Even if these final bills go really, really well, lefties are bound to be left with a bad taste in their mouths. The impeachment issue (and more significantly the colossol blundering of the handling of the issue, even going back into the last session), the astounding failure of courage on the death with dignity bill, the snail’s pace of the IRV bill; all these things leave the Democratic base feeling taken for granted and disrespected. Rep. Michael Fisher’s victory on the Iraq resolution was the exception to this paradigm, but in retrospect, given the lack of formal support from the caucus and the now well-known clawing and scratching Fisher had to engage in to get his day on the floor (including his agreement to refrain from sponsoring the Impeachment bill, which he had done last session – although he did vote for it, of course), even this victory feels hollow and tokenistic; as if it was supposed to serve as the one and only bone thrown to the left in order to placate us on every other policy issue. And nothing would be more patronizing, if that is the case.

So there’s still a lot of anger and frustration. The dismissals have all felt rather patronizing, and as such, easily personalized. And cracks are showing in the Dem caucus as well. Among Democrats, Symington was in a clear minority on impeachment – even her own leadership team voted for the measure. In the Senate, members of the Dem caucus look to be in open rebellion against Shumlin’s impulsive, unpredictable style.

The point is that nobody is feeling too thrilled about things. And as difficult as it may be for those of us feeling particularly burned to admit, we all do share one very important thing in common:

It is in all of our best interests for this Democratic supermajority to be effective and successful.

How to make that happen and pull it out in a big way for the next biennium is going to be challenging. On the leadership side, Symington and Shumlin are both going to have to lose their respective manifestations of their unfortunate lack of respect for their base. Shumlin needs to learn he can’t simply shine us on, while Symington needs to accept the fact that adults do not like to be chastised and dismissed like children. Obviously there is more that unites the leadership and the base than divides them, but you wouldn’t necessarily know that from the last few months.

And the fact is that, as leaders, S & S bear extra responsibility for making this relationship work. Sure there are screamers on the left who simply want to tear down and have no interest in cooperation, but by refusing to lead with respect for their base, the caucus leaders inadvertently create a leader/power vacuum – and nature abhors a vacuum.

The uneven power dynamic may be about to shift a bit though, with the primary date likely to be moved back into August. This will create a new dynamic on the ground, whereby there will be enough time between the primary and the general elections for the winner of a contested party nomination to have time to make a proper go of it against a Republican challenger. This may well embolden many in the grassroots to consider primary challenges against Dem incumbents who are too conservative for their districts. If such a scenario starts to play out in several districts and is apparent early enough in the year, liberal Democrats will be in a much better position to make demands in the Legislature collectively and individually, as a good third of the Democratic caucus are fairly conservative, and a good half again of them are perhaps more conservative than many in their home districts.

My own pollyanna-esque feeling is that next biennium will have to be better. Last session, the Legislature spun its wheels a bit in the first biennium as well. Still, its reassuring to know that one of the final actions of this biennium may be to make the power of the ballot box that much more effective for next year.

crossposted at the brand-spankin’-new five before chaos

I have to say, even though I still think it’s way too early to be focusing on the ’08 elections, and my biggest fear is probably a Hillary presidency, I am enjoying the hell out of watching the GOP continue to self-destruct at so many levels.

First, there’s the Congress and Senate. So many of them are digging in their heels on supporting Bush and the war, it’s making me seriously think that the conventional wisdom that politicians are only concerned about being reelected is very wrong. They’re setting themselves up for an electoral bloodbath in ’08. It really seems that the goal here, as some have already stated, is to keep the war going until Bush is out of office and let the next president clean up the mess. But you can tell they’re getting nervous when Foghorn Leghorn himself is starting to talk about timetables. But what makes it funny is they still have the wingnuts like this one leading them around like a bull with a nose ring.

But where the real humor is to be found is in the presidential race, as the top-tier candidates are finding how hard it is to try to appeal to mainstream voters yet not lose the batshit insane christofascists and warmongerers that make up the GOP base. That leads to things like Rudy Giuliani saying that it would be “okay” if Roe v Wade were repealed but it would be “okay” if it were upheld. Talk about noncommittal. And then the fun begins.  The Politico is reporting that it was just leaked from a rival GOP campaign that Giuliani gave money to Planned Parenthood at least six times in the ’90’s. Gotta laugh as they try to do each other in. It’s all the more satisfying when you consider how poor the ‘top-tier’ even is. It’s like the GOP is finally having their Dukkakis/Kerry moment.

Under every rock is mediocrity and a pander. Consider the sheer irony in Mitt Romney’s situation. The fundies have a real problem with his Mormonism, as though the crazy stuff that they believe, like this and this is any less ridiculous than what he does. And once again, he’s not free to even show any sort of independent thinking (authoritarian types which comprise the bulk of the base have a real problem with that). They’re already on his ass for not being one of the few people at the debate shameless enough to show how nutty they really are when he didn’t raise his hand when asked who didn’t believe in evolution.

So it’s time to sit back and watch the monkey show, as they slowly devour each other and any shred of credibility  as they pander to the worst elements in our nation, all so they can lose big in ’08. Go ahead and gloat. It’s been a long time coming and it’s only gonna get better. Mr. 28% is solidly wrapped around the neck of each and every one of these guys, and he’s not letting go. It’s hard work, right?

George W Bush has signed himself into the position of Supreme Crusader. He refuses to be bound by legislative action, and this Congress has not yet managed to muster any legislation of substance to challenge him.

Vermont Congressman Peter Welch refers to legislation with troop withdrawal timetables that passed in the U.S. House as his greatest achievement thus far in ending this war. The timetables didn’t even make it out of committee with the Democratic Senate, and so were spared the President’s veto. The Congressman thinks that this is real progress, but is unable to articulate why. He is also certain that impeachment proceedings would prolong the war, but offers only his judgment as evidence.

Only after impeachment investigations against him had begun did Richard Nixon start the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam. George Bush is still operating from an undeserved but nonetheless standing power base. Congress can’t pass a law that he feels compelled to obey, but they can impeach him and remove him from office and he can’t do a thing about it.

Bush thinks we’re winning a war. Democrats in Congress think they’re ending it. While Nancy Pelosi keeps impeachment off the table, it’s showing up everywhere else.

Impeachment is the only remedy when the executive usurps legislative authority. But this Congress doesn’t want to tackle that. No, these legislators are happy as clams, taking bold stabs at wrongdoing around the outer edges of the administration, uncovering political meddling in the Department of Justice, Republican politicking being done on the people’s dime, failures at Walter Reed. In the meantime, they do not have a single investigation of Bush or Cheney about the war, or torture, or signing statements, or violating FISA and the fourth amendment, or anything at all that would lead to their removal from office.

The Democrats just want to see Bush and the Republicans twist in the wind until the ’08 elections. The Constitution, American soldiers and the Iraqi nation can be damned in the meantime.

Our house is burning down. We’re asking our representatives to pass us a water bucket, but they’re only excited about their project to dig the fire pond deeper. Just wait until it’s all designed and built they say, and then we’ll really be good at putting out those fires. Only when they discover their own pants burning will they pull their heads out of their plans and go for water.

We’re looking for a measure of competence and honor from our leaders. If they don’t have it in them, we will instill it. If Peter Welch wants us to believe that he’s ending the war, he should tell us how he’s doing it. If he can’t give a reasoned answer why we shouldn’t impeach he should support our efforts. If he wants to end this war, he should stop protecting Bush and Cheney from being held accountable and help us end this administration’s rein of destruction.