New START Me Up

It seems it takes losing 60+ seats in the House to get the Dems to rediscover their spines, but they are off to the races this week.  Democrats are planning to hit Republicans hard on a number of issues during this lame duck session of Congress.  They say they have the votes in the Senate to repeal DADT and want a vote on it as part of the military appropriations bill.  They are now willing to force a vote on just middle class tax cuts and letting the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy get a separate vote, both painful issues for the Republicans to go on record. And now the Democrats are fighting back on the New START treaty with Russia, accusing Republicans of being soft on national security (finally!)

Just two weeks after an election that left him struggling to find his way forward, President Obama has decided to confront Senate Republicans in a make-or-break battle over arms control that could be an early test of his mettle heading into the final two years of his term.


He is pushing for a vote on a signature issue despite long odds, daring Republicans to block an arms-control treaty at the risk of disrupting relations with Russia and the international coalition that opposes Iran’s nuclear program. If he succeeds, Mr. Obama will demonstrate strength following the midterm election debacle. If he fails, he will reinforce the perception at home and abroad that he is a weakened president.

“It’s really high stakes,” said Geoffrey Kemp, a former national security aide to President Ronald Reagan and a scholar at the Nixon Center, a research group in Washington. “I would say it’s the biggest gamble he’s taken so far, certainly on foreign policy.”

After months of quiet negotiations blew up this week, Mr. Obama on Thursday escalated ratification of the agreement, the so-called New Start treaty, into a public showdown, enlisting former Republican officials and assigning Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to work on it “day and night.” An allied group, the American Values Network, kicked off a television and e-mail campaign.

“It is a national security imperative that the United States ratify the New Start treaty this year,” said Mr. Obama, flanked by Henry A. Kissinger, James A. Baker III and Brent Scowcroft, all of whom served Republican presidents. “There is no higher national security priority for the lame-duck session of Congress.” 

These are the fights he needed to pick before the midterms.   Why Democrats refused to go to the mat on these issues three months ago, I'll never understand.  But there are a lot more fights ahead, including unemployment benefits and the final approval of the budget, not to mention next spring's debt ceiling battle.  These are fights Obama can win, needs to win, and should win.

It's good to see fighting Obama back.  I've missed him over the last 12 months.