They Have 100 Hours

Nancy Pelosi has promised radical changes in The House of Representatives in the first 100 hours of the new regime.

Democrats in the House of Representatives on Wednesday declared themselves ready to press forward with an ambitious agenda and promised to enact the kind of change that they said voters demanded on Tuesday.

But they also tried to deflect attention from the liberal records of those set to ascend to top jobs in Congress, vowing to work with Republicans.

“We extend a hand of co-operation to the president, our colleagues across the aisle,” said Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago Democrat who led the party’s campaign committee. “We’ll work with you when we agree, we will challenge you when we don’t. But our goal will always be the best interests of our country.”

Uncertainty over which party would control the Senate – and the possibility that President George W. Bush could use his veto – necessitated such an approach. But so too did the growing strength of moderate Democrats, who expect to hold considerable sway in the new House.

My guess is that the Democrats will over reach and that all they will have is 100 hours of party unity to enact their program.

Dean Powers say that after only 12 hours the Democrats are fracturing.

This morning, President "war criminal" Bush, has begun flattering Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. Suddenly these frail-looking old school geeks, who were outcasts for six years, have been invited to the lunch table with the (once but no more) popular jock Bush. As if forgetting in 12 hours why they were elected, the Democrats now appear to be simply cashing in on their newfound celebrity status for glittery lunches, chats with the president and valet service in Washington.

Isn't it amazing how quickly the victorious party can become corrupted by power?

So Mr. Powers thinks that because the Democrat leaders will actually have to work with the President they are traitors to the cause. Here is a man who believes in truly divided government. The parties should have nothing to do with each other.

Florida’s 22nd District's Democratic candidate Ron Klein ran on this:

The new Medicare Drug Plan does not do enough to control drug prices and is unnecessarily complex. Homeowners insurance rates are skyrocketing while companies cancel policies randomly. Our energy policy has been written by oil companies. Good jobs are being shipped offshore. And above it all, we hear the steady drumbeat of daily scandals coming from the U.S. Congress.

Once government controls drug prices. The drug companies will do what ever it takes to grab hold of the mechanism and use it to control drug prices in their favor. Unnecessary complexity? Ever hear of government? There is reason for all this complexity. Each encumberance represents a pressure group that has to be satisfied.

Good jobs going off shore? I'm sure the fix for that will be an effort to raise the cost of doing business in America. I think that is in the Democrat contract. Oil policy written by oil companies? What a novel idea. Perhaps we could find some independent observer who after weighing all the factors impartially decides what needs to be done. Good luck finding him.

Business works best in a competitive environment. Lots of producers and consumers adjusting supply and demand to determine the price.

Another possibliity is higher taxes on oil companies driving the high paying jobs off shore.

It will be interesting to see if the Democrats can come up with a coherent plan for any of this. I don't think so. The DINOs will make the Dems just as unhappy as the RINOs made the Republicans.

Update: 09 Nov '06 0716z

Here are the action items on the 100 Hour Plan. For instance she is going to eliminate corruption by changing lobbying rules. Probably something like: lobbyists can't hire your wife or children, however a close nephew or cousin would be fine. Charitable organizations will be exempt. Which in this hypothetical would encourage a lot of political money laundering by charitable organizations which turn into political money laundering operations. Which has already happened without new rules to encourage more of it.