If You Walk Down The Middle Of The Road...

...you get hit by the bus. I appreciate that California Democrat Ellen Tauscher and her Sensibly Centrist "New Democrats" caucus in the House want to get things done, but what they want to do is in fact keep Obama from doing much of anything.

"This is a healthy reprise (of) what we had in the Clinton administration. We were go-to people on the pro-growth area and on balancing the budget, and on making sure that we were competitive in the trade environment," said California Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher, head of the New Democrats. "We've got members strategically placed throughout all the big committees. ... We can really deliver votes."

Deliver votes. Right, like backing Clinton on health care reform, and stopping Bush's massive tax cuts for the rich, and not rubber stamping Bush for the last eight years. Evan Bayh of Indiana is no different in the Senate.

"Our group is not to be a counterweight to anyone or to obstruct anything. On the contrary, our group is to get things done," Bayh said. "You've got to get to 60 votes in the Senate most of the time, and our group will be a key to making that happen."

You've got to get 60 votes in the Senate most of the time because these moderates are obstructing votes through fillibuster, rather than letting majority votes pass. The DINOs are just using the GOP's tactics against their own Democratic collegues in order to gain influence. Blocking Bush's legislation on FISA, wiretapping, the Patriot Act, torture, endless Iraq War funding...that wasn't worth obstructing becuase "Bush was our President during times of crisis." Obama is trying to clean up all this mess, and these same Senators decide that this loose cannon he has to be stopped at all costs.

I'm with BooMan on this one. It's time to clean out the DINOs in 2010, starting with bad Democrats like Ellen Tauscher. Primary them now.

Or do we have to wait another 16 years for a shot at health care reform?