Watching Harry Reid's mushy talk this week about Joe Lieberman's destiny, or hearing him go on today about Defense Secretary Gates ("He's not even a Republican," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said. "Why wouldn't we want to keep him? He's never been a registered Republican."), I want to ask both him and Speaker Pelosi to PLEASE STFU for now unless absolutely necessary.
I'm sorry -- I know these are two smart, experienced congresspeople, often in the right place on the issues. But do they have any idea how they're viewed by the American public? Have they seen the approval ratings for their congress? Their love of power and publicity can do serious damage to the Obama image, and I frankly feel Tuesday's victory has filled them with a bloated sense of self-worth, and I really don't think anyone on the right or left wants to hear them talking about what President Obama should or should not do. He was elected to change the direction of the country, and they need, at least at first, to take their lead from him. HE should decide about Lieberman's future, and if he's considering Robert Gates, let HIM tell us. I seriously doubt the Obama team is using Reid to float trial balloons about their potential decisions, and if they're not, who the hell cares what Harry Reid thinks??
We need a new dynamic in Washington and Reid and Pelosi are hopelessly tied to the past. In addition, and maybe this is superficial and mean, they just seem old and tired and classically "liberal" in that old "out of fresh ideas" way. Honestly, I wish they could be replaced just to acheive the appearance of a totally new path for the country. The last thing Obama needs is for these two disliked and frankly irritating pols to be seen as closely associated with him.
If they're going to stay where they are, we can at least ask them to keep a low profile and STFU until the new President sets his course.