Steve Benen points out that the Republican’s obstruction of President Obama is unprecedented, particularly in the area of presidential appointments, as the Republicans have basically announced that in many instances, they will not allow a vote on any of Obama’s nominees, no matter who they might be.
This is truly outrageous. But we must not forget that it was entirely predictable; that the Senate Democrats had the procedural tools to do something about it at the beginning of the session; but that neither they nor Obama made any real push for rule changes, either substantively or rhetorically. The Republicans are fully aware that no matter what they do, the Democrats will not have the spine to oppose them.
Yet…, mark my words, should disaster strike in 2012 or in 2016 and the Republicans take over all three branches, they will effectively end the filibuster in a blink of an eye if it suits their purposes. Bizarrely, this is a party that controls only one house of Congress, yet it smells political blood despite the fact that it is busy openly conspiring to destroy a wildly popular middle class benefit. If they have majorities of one in both houses they will push through whatever they want, and no Democrat will be able to stop them.
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