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• Sunday, November 9, 2008 01:21 PM

  L.W.M.

  I did not make that up.

  An Obama administration could very well be planning to govern from the center. But there's still the reality of the Democratic congressional leadership, which is brimming with left-wing barons who have their own agenda.
  
  

  Barney Frank wants to slash Defense spending by 25%. Charles Rangel wants to bring back the draft. John Conyers, who has called for slavery reparations, is also sympathetic to Europeans who want to indict Bush administration officials for war crimes. And Henry Waxman is angling for steep energy taxes to combat global warming.
  
  The question is whether these veteran lawmakers will simply steam roll the new White House occupant, the way previous liberal majorities in Congress had their way with Presidents Carter and Clinton.
  
  "Barack Obama can stand up to them," countered Mr. Emanuel.

  I left out the part you quoted because they're part of what Obama campaigned on. I'm concerned with what he didn't campaign on.
  
  mcjoan has a post up on Daily Kos - an open letter to Reid and Pelosi. It includes a list of priorities, including "dismantling the unitary executive" and revising FISA. This is from one of the post's comments and I've seen similar comments when it comes to Obama dealing with these issues over the months: "I hate FISA, but without a strong working middle class, discussing FISA is equal to intellectual masturbation and verbal diarrhea."
  
  Hysterical? Moi? Not yet.

  —EJ Read EJ's other letters
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