This is the best news that came out of Washington, DC in a while. Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania announced that he's switching party from Republican to Democrat. It's about time, Mr. Senator! The switch effectively gives the Democrats de facto control of the US Senate with the filibuster-proof 60 votes (pending the Minnesota State Supreme Court decision on the recent senate race dispute between Republican incumbent Norm Coleman and his Democratic challenger, Al Franken).* Still, it's a game-changer; and earth-shattering as far as I'm concerned. It's fucking amazing!
What does the switch mean for the new Obama administration? It means that Obama can now introduce far-reaching programs without being obstructed by the few recalcitrant right-wingers in the Senate (Democrats, since the 2006 midterm elections, already have a majority control of the House of Representatives). The future bodes well for America, at least theoretically, as this new, unexpected opportunity blazes the path toward seriously addressing all critical issues faced by the country such as the deep recession, unemployment, out-of-control health care costs, immigration reform, Social Security insolvency, global warming, two-front wars, national security and myriad others.
For starters, a complete pull-out of US troops from Iraq can now be carried out without the fear of a Republican reprisal. Many of the Bush's damaging policies can be rescinded such as tax cuts for the wealthiest 1 percent, abolish the USA Patriot Act, drop the illegal wiretapping program, radically revamp the No Child Left Behind Act in favor of a more comprehensive evaluation of students' and teachers' performance, rein in the unchecked influence of Wall Street, create a universal health care system for all, strengthen the Clean Water and Clean Air Act, build green energy infrastructures, re-sign the Kyoto Protocol, diplomatically engage Iran, Syria, and Hamas and the list goes on and on.
Another deep impact of this new makeup of the US Senate is the very real possibility of wresting control of the US Supreme Court from the conservatives. US Senate gets to approve the President's appointees for the Supreme Court, and this is a lifetime appointment. The votes on the Court right now on controversial issues such as abortion, terrorism, free speech, etc have generally been a highly contentious 5-4 in favor of the conservative justices. Now the liberals can be rest assured that for the next eight years (or more!) any vacancy on the Court will be filled with justices who are sympathetic to our causes. The 88-year old Justice John Paul Stevens can finally retire now and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg can rest and take care of her ailing health. One can also hope that the no-good Uncle Tom, ultra-conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, the only black person on the Court, just drops dead and be replaced with somebody who is more worthy of following the footsteps of the first black Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall.
Wow, this is great fucking news! I see good things ahead from now on. The US can again become what it claims to be: Land of the free and the home of the brave. The last time I felt almost this way was when Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont changed from Republican to Independent (but sides with the Democrats on most issues) as soon as the Republicans took control of the US Senate in 2001. The US Senate at the time was deadlocked at 50-50 with VP Dick Cheney casting the tie-breaking vote. Sen. Jeffords defection effectively gave the Democrats 51-49 control of the US Senate, and thus preventing a Republican clean sweep of all three branches of the government.
* Filibuster is a peculiar parliamentary tactic used in the US Senate (the only legislative body in the world I know that practices it) by the minority party to block any legislation currently being debated. The US Senate will then need a super-majority vote of 60 in order to override the filibuster or the President's veto, for that matter. Filibuster in the old days entails a Senator talking non-stop for many, many hours without yielding the floor to his fellow Senators. The late Sen. Strom Thurmond, a well-known racist from South Carolina, once talked non-stop for more than 24 hours trying to block the Civil Rights legislation from being passed (he failed). Now there's no more Senator giving long-winded filibuster speech; a threat of filibuster is enough. Whenever the minority party issues a filibuster threat, the majority party has to then muster a minimum of 60 votes in order to pass that piece of legislation. This has resulted in many deadlocks and severely watered-down legislations in the past few years.
Note: For a great fictional depiction of filibuster watch Jimmy Stewart's 1939 film "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."
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