Friday, November 21, 2008

The Club Says Farewell to a Member

Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, convicted on 7 counts of corruption, and thrown out of office by his own constituents, gets a standing ovation:



Go figure.

I've always said that Obama having relatively little experience in the US Senate is an ASSET, not a liability. So many of these rich old white guys see their office as a sinecure rather than a public trust, and forget just who it is that they are supposed to be working for. I think John Kerry was undone by his long years in the Senate. The Kerry of the 2004 presidential race was definitely not the Kerry of 1968. The advocate had long ago become a club member.

There are times when I think Quebec had the right idea when their parliament got rid of its upper house, and turned the chamber into a formal reception hall. Maybe Nebraska's unicameral legislature is not such a bad idea either. We don't need an American version of Lords.

They used to say about the Senate that it was the South's revenge for Gettysburg. For decades after the Civil War it was dominated by Southern interests, and obstructed progress on Civil Rights. It took a combination of threats and deals from President (and former Senator) Lyndon Johnson to finally break the log jam on that issue.

2 comments:

Counterlight said...

Oh well, it's not like they have anything else to do these days.

Göran Koch-Swahne said...

Unbecoming, I would say. No shame...