A Cover-Free Zone

BooMan has a great piece up explaining what Senator Al Franken means as the 60th Democratic Senator: no more games of CYA for our serious, centrist Democratic friends (emphasis mine):

There are different kinds of politicians. Most politicians come from very safe districts. A huge percentage of incumbents are reelected in every election cycle, and most of them are challenged only nominally, if at all. What makes the gears grind in Washington is not the overwhelming majority of safe politicians. It is the handful of vulnerable politicians who decide what is possible and what is not possible in Congress. And vulnerable politicians are predisposed against change. In effect, they are temperamentally conservative. Every significant vote that they take could spell the end of their political career. And the Democrats have dozens of these timid creatures in Congress. How does Al Franken and reaching 60 votes in the Senate affect them?

Basically, Al Franken screws them, plain and simple. A timid, vulnerable, conservative Democrat wants anything but to be put on the line in a contentious and significant vote. Their first instinct is to figure out if a piece of legislation is going to pass. If it is not going to pass, they want to make sure their Democratic base is happy, and they will vote for it. If it is going to pass, and it is either going to anger big donors or become a painful campaign issue, they will vote against it. In each case, they are ignoring the merits and voting to create for themselves the least amount of pain.

A third category exists where it is their decision which is decisive in determining whether something will pass. This is their least favorite circumstance, because it means they cannot avoid angering their base if they vote against it, but the business community will not give them a wink-and-a-nod-pass on it if they vote for it.

So long as the Republicans had 41 votes in the Senate, the timid, vulnerable, conservative Democrats could get away with voting for progressive legislation that wouldn't pass and against progressive legislation that did. But now that the Democrats have sixty votes, every single bill the Democrats introduce should pass. Every nominee should be confirmed. And each Democrat that votes 'nay' on an issue is giving the Republicans the ability to stop the president's agenda. They can no longer hide. And that is that last place they want to be.

In other words, the Democrats playing both sides of the fence like Evan F'ckin Bayh, Joe F'ckin Lieberman, Ben Nelson, Blanche Lincoln, and Arlen Specter (among others) now have to take responsibility for their votes. Once Al Franken is sworn in, Republicans are no longer capable of stopping legislation. Republicans have become irrelevant to the outcome of President Obama's agenda. It is now completely in control of the Democrats.

The GOP can no longer stop health care reform, climate change legislation, budget priorities, civil rights and social issues, or anything else the President wants to sign into law. Only Democrats can kill Obama's agenda now. Any Democrat that jumps the fence to vote with the Republicans against the President's agenda now has to take full responsibility for the action. Republicans know this. They're not going to provide any cover for those across the aisle. They can finally lay low and stay off the radar, which would be the first smart move they've made since the election.

The Party of No card no longer functions. Republicans can vote however they want to now. Democrats now have to count each and every vote in the Senate. The President's agenda is now in the hands of his own party.

We'll see how history unfolds...and how history will judge.