March 22, 2010

Washington's not broken anymore!

By: AF Editors

Three long weeks ago, I made the case that Scott Brown single-handedly broke Washington:

As recently as January 18, the day before Scott Brown’s election, there was no firm consensus that Washington was broken. Now it is a staple of high-minded conversation. Imagine for a moment, that instead of Scott Brown, Massachusetts voters had elected Sen. Martha Coakley.

The House and Senate would’ve worked out a compromise on healthcare and Obama would’ve signed the titanic bill into law. The conversation we’d be having now would be about the merits of that bill. No one would be saying that Washington was broken, except perhaps for Tea Partiers and embittered Republicans.

Well, don’t expect any more anxious hand-wringing from high-minded establishment types. “Washington’s broken” will now become nothing more than a Republican talking point. The Democratic line has already been laid down by EJ Dionne:

The passage of health care reform provided the first piece of incontestable evidence that Washington has changed.

Congress is, indeed, capable of carrying through fundamental social reform.

Who knew that Washington could be fixed so quickly?