Work First; Campaign in the Time that Remains

In following the coverage of the campaign hysteria leading up to tomorrow's primaries, I have yet to hear an account of any of the three campaigning Senators being heckled over not doing their job in Washington; so my personal rants about this negligence seem to be falling into a black hole. Fortunately, last night Justin Frank put out a post on his Huffington Post blog that gets right to the point of why a strong Democratic presence in the Senate (which must include two particular Senators more occupied with the campaign trail) is so important. Since Frank seems to appreciate that brevity is the soul of urgency (as well as wit), his post is brief enough that I feel it deserves to be reproduced in its entirety:

If Clinton and Obama remain too cautious to promote impeachment, they must advocate blocking President Bush at every turn. Otherwise, business as usual remains in place and change will be even more difficult for either of them to implement on day one.

Each candidate claims to be best-prepared to lead the nation on January 20, 2009. Clinton emphasizes her experience and Obama touts his ability to inspire cooperation.

But they are overlooking an important data point: how can they know what the world, and our nation, will be like in almost twelve months hence? Do they assume that no foreign power or terrorist group will attack us? Do they assume that President Bush will not bomb Iran - as John McCain seems to want him to do? They talk as if next year the world will be as it is today.

This way of thinking is dangerous, even if understandable. The idea that either Obama or Clinton is prepared to take the Presidential reins and to hit the ground running on January 20, 2009 is absurd. Both camps ignore our current President, who is hardly a lame duck. He doggedly issues signing statements, overruling legislation he doesn't like, such as the defense appropriations bill which forbade permanent bases in Iraq. Unless the candidates, and their fellow legislators, stop him, he is going to guarantee American presence there for as long as he - and McCain - wants.

As long as business as usual remains in place, Obama and Clinton are pushing us toward a future that will be determined by George W. Bush - and George W. Bush alone.

As I reported, Harry Reid has already made it clear that this is a critical time in the Senate, during which he really cannot do without Obama and Clinton doing their share of the heavy lifting required by at least two bills under debate. However, since Frank does not have to be the boss checking on who punches in on the time-clock, he can afford to take a longer view, from which he can make the case that Bush is far from the lame duck that the media is making him out to be. Yes, Frank is swimming against the current, trying to get us all to think in terms of those worst-case scenarios that we all prefer to avoid. It is as if the media have lulled us into a complacent belief that things will get better on January 20, 2009 and that, as a corollary, they can't get any worse before then. Frank has the courage to remind us all that the argument behind that corollary is specious; I just wish he had the clout to convince Obama and Clinton!