And courage. and HEART. And I HATE that guy, the crooked mouthed Senator from Alabama. I'll never forget how he grilled the CEOs from the Big Three automakers. Between him and Corker from Tennessee, they had a field day ripping on Detroit. Both were pushing for bankruptcy for GM & Chrysler, and their motives were crystal clear. Both of their states have factories where foreign cars are made here in the US; Toyota, VW, etc. And those are non union factories. Having GM & Chrysler go bankrupt would have been a GOP wet dream come true; destroy the competition AND kill a union too! Thank God Obama pushed through the bailouts, even though they conceded too much. Closing all those auto factories, even though many will stay open, will cost Obama in 2012.
But getting back to Shelby. what is he doing that is so nervy? Very simple: he put a "blanket hold" on all of Obama's nominations until he gets approval for two pet earmark projects in Alabama. That's right. One guy, a Senator from the minority party, is holding up about SEVENTY separate nominations! Yup; he's holding the nominations HOSTAGE! One guy with nerve, balls, CHUTZPAH.
Now contrast him with the entire 59 member Democratic caucus of WIMPS. They are an embarrassment. What the Democrats lack is Senators with Shelby's type of brass balls. They no longer have the 60 vote majority? Well, guess what? They never really had it BEFORE Massachusettes either! Someone in the Senate Democratic ranks needs to be "Shelby-esque" and just GET THINGS DONE. But no...they sit on their hands and dither, and look for the White House to LEAD. But so far he has not shown that he can lead either. I have come close to giving up on him. And the Democratic Party? A joke. Last year we had it all. A popular President, clear majority in both houses, and a real political movement going. And in little more than a year, the Democrats and this President have managed to to turn the tables. On themselves. They started out as the guys people voted for to change things, and in one year's time they have become the guys that people feel need to BE changed! What we are witnessing is a political collapse the likes of which I have never seen. For a President and a party to go from the heights of the Inauguration in January 2009 to the depths of January 2010 where they lack the CHUTZPAH needed to ram through health care is mind boggling. Could you even picture ol' Shelby from Alabama wavering in passing some GOP bill? Could you even picture the Shrub being so concerned about bipartisanship that he ends up getting NOTHING done? I sure can't.
I can't believe I would ever type this, but our side needs more Senators like Shelby of Alabama, and, oh my God, is this ever hard to type, but our side could use a President like Bush, who couldn't care less about bipartisanship or any of that crap, and never had a problem reminding everyone that "I won" and using reconciliation if he needed to. It's time our side grew some BALLS. And SOON.