Will Pelosi Negotiate For Progressive Bailout?
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| Also listed in: Courage Campaign Staff |
Post-partisan fans should be proud. Today the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly voted down the $700 billion "Wall Street Bailout" package with both conservatives and liberals working together to pass and defeat the bill. The California delegation, the largest in Congress voted for the bailout including Democrat and Republican majorities.
According to the Sacramento Bee:
Clearly, many members of congress would not tow the party line to support this plan.
Give credit to the believers amongst conservative orthodoxy who have faith in a clearly flawed free market system. One could say "they are clinging to their guns" and I respect them for it.
On the other hand, too many Democrats voted in the affirmative to bailout investment and commercial banks that made both bad investments and poor business decisions thanks to the free hand the human instinct of greed was granted by Bush administration regulators.
Nevermind those individuals facing home foreclosure or personal bankruptcy. Neither party has raised their voice to bail them out of their bad decisions.
It is really striking to see our Democratic leaders complain loudly about free market republicanism, the cause of this crisis in one breath, then vote to excuse that behavior with phony oversight and billions in taxpayer money in the next without any progressive standards.
This, my friends is what I believe to be the difference between progressives and the classic liberals who call themselves "progressives." Those liberals have no real philosophy about the role and potential of the national economy. They listen to trustworthy people like Secretary Paulson for ideas and follow their lead.
Rarely do they lead, especially when it is unpopular and they almost never provide a platform for true progressives with a plan.
Everyone should review the alternative "progressive bailout plans" provided by Matt Stoller at OpenLeft.com.
For now, the media will portray this congressional defeat, as a defeat for Barack Obama, he basically supported the bailout, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and for Wall Street. They will say it was never popular amongst the people and therefore scared congressional members in swing districts facing strong challengers in November.
But like California, most state delegations were evenly split within party lines so impending defeat could not have been responsible. Sorry Rush Limbaugh.
Well, If I know my "progressive in name only" Democrats as well as I think I do, they will come back later this week a few tweaks more friendly to Wall Street that will gain enough Republican votes to gain a majority.
We have a lot of work to do, progressives.
According to the Sacramento Bee:
- Overall, the delegation cast 29 aye votes and 24 no votes. A majority of both Republican (10 to 9) and Democratic lawmakers (19 to 15) from the state supported the bailout package.
The plan failed the full House of Representatives 228 to 205, with 133 Republicans and 95 Democrats in opposition. A total of 140 Democrats and 65 Republicans backed the plan.
The vote clearly did not split along ideological lines with liberal Rep. Lynn Woolsey voting against the bailout, while fellow liberal Democratic Rep. Howard Berman voted in favor.
Likewise for Republicans, some conservatives like Rep. John Campbell voted in favor, while others like Rep. Duncan Hunter and John Doolittle voted no.
Clearly, many members of congress would not tow the party line to support this plan.
Give credit to the believers amongst conservative orthodoxy who have faith in a clearly flawed free market system. One could say "they are clinging to their guns" and I respect them for it.
On the other hand, too many Democrats voted in the affirmative to bailout investment and commercial banks that made both bad investments and poor business decisions thanks to the free hand the human instinct of greed was granted by Bush administration regulators.
Nevermind those individuals facing home foreclosure or personal bankruptcy. Neither party has raised their voice to bail them out of their bad decisions.
It is really striking to see our Democratic leaders complain loudly about free market republicanism, the cause of this crisis in one breath, then vote to excuse that behavior with phony oversight and billions in taxpayer money in the next without any progressive standards.
This, my friends is what I believe to be the difference between progressives and the classic liberals who call themselves "progressives." Those liberals have no real philosophy about the role and potential of the national economy. They listen to trustworthy people like Secretary Paulson for ideas and follow their lead.
Rarely do they lead, especially when it is unpopular and they almost never provide a platform for true progressives with a plan.
Everyone should review the alternative "progressive bailout plans" provided by Matt Stoller at OpenLeft.com.
For now, the media will portray this congressional defeat, as a defeat for Barack Obama, he basically supported the bailout, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and for Wall Street. They will say it was never popular amongst the people and therefore scared congressional members in swing districts facing strong challengers in November.
But like California, most state delegations were evenly split within party lines so impending defeat could not have been responsible. Sorry Rush Limbaugh.
Well, If I know my "progressive in name only" Democrats as well as I think I do, they will come back later this week a few tweaks more friendly to Wall Street that will gain enough Republican votes to gain a majority.
We have a lot of work to do, progressives.