Harrying Harry

My personal opinion of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is that he's pretty much the least effective Democrat to hold that position ever, and that the complete lack of respect for him as a player in Washington means it's long past time for him to be replaced. Not only has Harry folded on every major piece of legislation in the Senate over the last two years to Bush, the events of the last month have cemented the fact that he's viewed as a joke by his own party. Firedoglake's Jane Hamsher agrees.

Reid looks like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs on Meet the Press. Nobody knows how much Fitz has (not even Fitz, who is still trying to transcribe his tapes) or how much he'll need to reveal to prove his case, so Reid says he "doesn't remember" his conversation with Blago, but calls Blago a liar anyway. When asked if he supported Jesse Jackson Jr. for the Senate seat, he says he would support him. And admits that there's "room to negotiate" on Burris.

Burris appears at the Senate on Tuesday. Gets turned away. Could Reid look any worse?

Yes!

Obama stares down DiFi, appoints Panetta to the CIA, and the NYT breaks the story before she's told (but Ron Wyden already knows). DiFi's fuming.

Despite having been one of the 50 Senators who signed Reid's letter saying Burris would never be seated, she announces that as the outgoing head of the Rules Committee she thinks the Senate has no choice but to seat him.

(Good timing, because Charlie Rangel is already complaining about the Rules Committee dragging its feet.)

Reid can't hold his own caucus in line. Blames Rahm. Gives interview saying "I don't work for Barack Obama."

Smooth.

WaPo: "Burris Backs Reid Into a Corner."

A seventy-one year old dude who hasn't held office for 14 years, appointed by a crook, takes the Senate Majority Leader to the cleaners.

Reid is a red state senator, up for re-election in 2010 and under pressure from the right, who is already making noise about appeasing Republicans who aren't going to be appeased. He's a hazard to Obama's agenda, which is why leading Senate Democrats tried to ease him out as Majority Leader last year.

There's a reason why nobody's looking to Senate Democrats for leadership or even very much cooperation with Obama's planned legislation. That reason is Harry Reid. He has one job: get Obama's legislation through the Senate. If he cannot do that, and there's every reason to believe that he will fail miserably at this task, then he needs to be replaced. Period.

Honestly, can somebody explain to me how a Republican became the Dems' leader in the Senate? All he has to do is say "We're with the President on this" and then peel off like two GOP Senators to avoid a filibuster. If he can't even do that, he's done.

And so is the country.