Snowe job: The Senate needs reform, not a bipartisan chorus of kumbayah
BY DAVID ROBERTS
2 MAR 2012 1:29 PM
On Tuesday, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) announced that after 40 years of serving in Congress, she would not seek another term. Snowe is one of the very few remaining GOP moderates in the Senate and her departure was both unexpected and seismic. There’s good reason to believe a Democrat will take her seat and that could well make the difference in which party has a majority after this year’s elections.
Today, Snowe has taken the now-de rigueur step of penning a More In Sadness Than In Anger op-ed explaining her choice.
You’ll recall that Indiana’s Evan Bayh did the same thing in 2010. “In my final 11 months, I will advocate for the reforms,” he said. He didn’t actually do that. He told Ezra Klein he might teach, or lead a foundation, something where he could get real good done for the world. He didn’t actually do that either. Instead he became a lobbyist at a firm that represents “national energy companies, foreign countries, international manufacturing companies, trade associations and local and national businesses.”
Bayh’s op-ed was pathetic and self-serving, with all sorts of vapid talk about civility and compromise and senators eating lunch together more often. But at least he mentioned the extraordinary demands of raising money constantly and advocated for matching funds. At least he recognized the rampant abuse of holds and filibusters and advocated for new limits on their use. He didn’t do anything to advance these reforms, either in Congress or out of it, but at least he acknowledged the need. At least he didn’t pretend that the sole change needed was in the temperament of elected officials.
Snowe, however, goes there. She says nothing about the money swamping the Senate. She says nothing about holds. She cites the supermajority requirement as a good thing. Apparently the only reform the Senate requires is for senators to open their hearts to the “strength in compromise, courage in conciliation and honor in consensus-building.”
more
http://grist.org/politics/snowe-job-the-senate-needs-reform-not-a-bipartisan-chorus-of-kumbayah/
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