3.10.13: A Political Thaw

The question you may ask yourself is 'why now? ' Why haven't the opposing sides collaborated before this and the simple reason is when you have nothing to lose and don't have to answer to a monied interest or a constituency base, a politician gains the ability to speak more freely about his/her views.  Take for example retiring Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) who said he believes 'the president, my friend' has good intentions and that he wants to solve the problems of the country.  He's also correct that it shouldn't be news but the reason it is news is because of all the hyper-partisanship we've all been subjected to.  And finally, when Senator Coburn assesses that Washington is dysfunctional in its dysfunction, you know something has to give.  If dysfunction is a conventional negative then maybe two of them will make a positive.  The thaw that we're experiencing is the result of the political realization of the election outcome and fewer of the key players are worried about reelection at this point. That of course includes the president.  The more cynical view is that if the Congress doesn't act on budget issues by April, they stop getting paid,  a real motivator for certain.

But also at work, and in no small measure, is Washington coming to understand that the electorate is tired of all the counterproductive rhetoric and want a plan.  And when you consider that two of the guests today are freshman in Congress, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) and Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO) respectively, it's important for them to be initiated to a more civil tone, right?  They were both a little too much into the talking points - Mr. Gardner more so than Ms. Gabbard, a very strong edition to the House of Reprensatives, evidenced by the amount of time given them to speak by the moderator.  Despite that, both talked about working out a deal, which is a good sign.  Just one thing - Mr. Gardner said that tax revenue was at a record high, which is a fact without context.  In raw dollars yes, but as a percentage of GDP, no.  Just thought we'd clarify that.

Also, the president doing an end-around on the leadership in both chambers and talking to others is a good strategy because frankly John Boehner and Harry Reid fail at leading their respective chambers.  They are both so concerned about protecting the political ground underneath their feet that they don't see it crumbling all around them.

Mr. Obama does have to schmooze, as Joe Scarborough indicated and we've said it before in this column that the president needs to be a great salesman - take out the clients. And it would do Congressman Gardner well not to parrot too much off of the Speaker, starting off with 'the president got his tax increases [so revenue is off the table].  This implicitly answers Mr. Gregory's core question of what is the ratio of cuts to revenues that Republicans will accept, which is there is no ratio.  Senator Tim Kaine pointed out the rhetorical out for Republicans with the phrase 'spending through the tax code,' but it's not enough. Too much money goes into protecting the corporate loopholes that politicians on both side talk about closing.

At a certain point, just as you get tired of fighting wars abroad, you become exhausted by wars of words at home.  Where we have faith in that is with the discussion we're having about drones courtesy of Senator Rand Paul, whom will discuss more in a moment.  All sides agree that there should be more Congressional oversight on the use of this technology.  The president wants the oversight as well, make no mistake, because he doesn't want his legacy being tied to an accountability for that 'kill list' they have.

With regard to Senator Rand Paul, despite the disagreements we have with his policy views and his extreme rhetoric, we commend him for his filibuster.  First, he actually did it - he took to the podium for 13 hours to make his point sparking this very important discussion because someday we'll have to discuss drone use from a defensive posture as other countries obtain the technology.  Having said that, we mostly agree with conservative Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus who said that Senator Paul filibustered the wrong question.  Mr. Paul's notion that the government is going to turn the drone program on its own citizens is that kind of borderline conspiracy nonsense that has no place in the United States Senate.  Stick to the question of oversight and parameters of use.  Most people paying attention understand the difference between Mr. Paul's flawed but commendable effort and the real question at hand.  And what you find is that most people agree with what needs to be done so perhaps a good building block for cooperation.

And whatever your take on Sheryl Sandberg's core argument that women do not lean in, but instead lean back, there shouldn't be any disagreement with women being treated equally in the workplace.  Steve Schmidt's comments that women need to have equal representation in leading were meant directly for Republican leadership, but also meant for the broader context.

In Ms. Sandberg's comments, she mentioned that women lean back and instead of going after success or  seeking a leadership position, they sit back and weigh the options of family vs. career.  Dee Dee Meyers said that women don't promote themselves as they should given that a woman's likeability suffers due to success.  The obstacles for women are there, no doubt, and to a degree, what Ruth Marcus said could also be true that women do it to themselves.  However, the leaning back Ms. Sandberg described really speaks to the core strength of women over men.  They take a step back to assess and analyze instead of just jumping impulsively.  It speaks to the greater responsibility that women carry in society and how they are more responsible than men.


Guests: Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), freshman Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO) and host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, fmr. Rep. Joe Scarborough (R-FL).

Roundtable: Author of “Why Women Should Rule the World” and former White House Press Secretary under President Clinton, Dee Dee Myers; Tennessee Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn; former John McCain 2008 Presidential Campaign Manager Steve Schmidt; and Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus


Postscript: We stayed away from the Jeb Bush interview because we just didn't feel like discussing presidential election politics at this point. We felt that Governor Bush's analogy of the Washington press's obsession with the subject being a kin to a crack addiction refreshingly accurate.