Frogs for Snakes

According to So Damn Much Money, a chronical of the rise of lobbying in D.C. and the parallel increase in the power of money, the politician’s motto is (or ought to be) “When it rains, dance.”  Meaning, whenever something good happens claim credit.

Our politicians are doing that now related to movement on the previously stalled bill to overhaul financial regulation.  Acording to a N.Y. Times article:

“Republicans said that they had forced Democrats back to the bargaining table to negotiate a bipartisan accord, while Democrats said that Republicans were hastily abandoning their opposition in fear of a public outcry.”

The parties’ posings are ex-post-facto rain dances, I suspect. What’s really happening is that lawmakers are feeling the public’s outrage at the looting of the economy by the investment houses and the cowardice keeping our government from doing anything about it. And about time.

From a Washington Post article on the financial regulation bill: “Democrats have been unwilling to alter the legislation without a guarantee that it would bring Republican votes.”

Republicans this session have engaged in “bipartisan” deliberations (which aren’t that at all but are rather negotiations over what interests will be privileged) thereby revising legislation which will pass with or without their support more to their liking, then they don’t vote for it.

There’s no such thing as one-way bipartisanship–it’s plain crazy to propose “You do what I want in the interests of bipartisanship”–so from a practical political standpoint Democrat lawmakers should just ignore their Republican counterparts as irrelevant and take the inevitable attacks on their lack of bipartisanship.

They’re going to get attacked for something no matter what they do, that’s the current M.O. of the Republican Party, and with congress’ approval ratings hovering a little south of 25% it’s hard to imagine how those attacks would do any additional damage.