Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution and Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute make their first appearance on a Sunday news program since the release of their controversial new book, “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the New Politics of Extremism.” Mann and Ornstein talk with Up host Chris Hayes and panelists Michelle Bernard, of the Bernard Center, and MSNBC political analyst Michael Steele talk about what they say is the extreme rightward drift of the Republican Party.
From Raw Story:
Mann explained that the separation of powers provided for by our Constitution deliberately creates a situation in which that Congressional majorities are unable to act without some degree of cooperation with the other party. Now that “one of those political parties has veered off the tracks” and become “aggressively oppositional,” it has many tools available to prevent legislation from being passed or enforced.
Ornstein singled out the filibuster as a large part of the problem, because it is being “used routinely,” even on non-controversial legislation. However, he also pointed to Republicans voting even against their own bills in order to avoid giving President Obama anything that would look like a victory.
The elephant in the room is that ideology and obstruction may now be the norm but the Democrats had the opportunity, and still do, to stop the filibuster in the Senate. Thus, the Democrats become the enablers of bad behavior.
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