Friday, March 19, 2010

Quote of the Day (Senator Feinstein, on Losing)


"Winning may not be everything, but losing has little to recommend it." – Attributed to U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)

This might be the most admirably candid quote about American politicals that you’ll read this year. It accounts for so much—the endless, nitpicking partisanship on every blessed thing; the rampaging egomania that makes Presidential candidacies bloom constantly; the ceaseless hunt for money.

Naturally, it was said before the current debate—and coming vote—on President Obama’s health-care proposal.

Earlier this year, Senator Feinstein got into trouble with MoveOn.org just for admitting the obvious: that Obama’s plan, up to that point, simply did not have enough votes for passage.

After the projected vote on the mammoth proposal on Sunday, we’ll see which party is the bigger loser. It’s not going to be pretty, folks.

Obama has to win this vote. That’s it. Do or die. He can’t be seen as having devoted so much in terms of time and resources, to the virtual exclusion of darn near everything else, and come away with nothing.

As for Republicans, do they care at this point about losing? The fight has energized the base and given them an opponent they can unite against.

Of course, “winning” might not do either side the kind of good it guaranteed in the past. A “no” vote would seal the GOP reputation as needlessly obstructionist. But a “Yes” might only set in stone, among a certain part of the population, the Democrats’ reputation for salting otherwise worthy legislation with unwholesome deals.

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