Where’s the action plan, where’s the bill?
We’re all for robust competition in politics, at a minimum because it can make TV interesting. Unfortunately, Harry Reid’s outline for Democratic Senators (via Drudge) during recess doesn’t cut the mustard. Number one on the list is port security, an excellent political choice because of the Dubai flap. But look at the agenda for the cameras:
Here’s the problem. Today is 1,650 days since September 11, 2001. These days included 5 Super Bowls, 2 Wars, 3 successful terrorist attacks and 4 major busts in the US, 8 big hurricanes, 1 tsunami, 3 separate Congresses, and the birth of over 10,000,000 new Americans. If this is such a big problem, Senator, why are you standing there whining after all this time? Why aren’t you doing something? Where is your bill that is opposed by Bush? You’re supposed to be a lawmaker, for gosh sakes, not Oprah Winfrey; if theings are so bad, where is your proposed law?
The visual subtext of the TV spot, so carefully laid out for the Senators with the port and ships in the background, is that the Senator is on the job on port safety. The greater visual subtext is that a Senator is standing around merely complaining, five years after 9-11. No sale.