Maxine Waters in the House and Sherrod Brown and Elizabeth Warren in the Senate put up a good fight to preserve parts of Dodd-Frank -- and, in doing so, put both centrist Democrats and Republicans on notice that they are going to be fighting for ordinary citizens.
My values and my sentiments are 100% with them. At first I was dumbfounded that Obama and the Democratic leadership went along with this reversal of part of Dodd-Frank banking regulations; but on a bit of reflection, here's what I'm thinking, and it's about compromise and practicality.
This is the last week before Republicans will be in charge of both the House and Senate. They will pass an even worse bill in January, if we don't do this now. So let's use this as a bargaining chip now and get something we want out of it.
One thing Harry Reid got was time to get a bunch of nominations confirmed, including the controversial Surgeon General -- a highly qualified, effective spokesman, who was opposed by the NRA (and hence those in their pay) because he has spoken out about gun violence as a public health problem.
So I think what we've just seen is the politics of compromise and pragmatism. It feels better to be a pure idealist and not give in, but it does raise the questions: Is something better than nothing? Would you rather be right and lose? Or compromise?
I suggest that the progressives channel their idealism and outrage into encouraging progressive candidates for 2016 and them doing everything to help them win.
Ralph
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