I went to a picnic night before last. Sherrod Brown was the speaker and special guest. The event was held on the grounds of a UAW hall, so perhaps unsurprisingly Brown’s talk was probably 75% auto rescue/manufacturing/trade and 25% Obamacare.
He started with the transportation bill, which is finally headed to Obama’s desk. He spoke about how difficult it is to get past the Tea Party House, because “they believe transportation is a state issue, which might surprise Dwight D. Eisenhower”
The transportation bill was the most contested part of the package. Prominent conservative groups urged Republicans to vote against it, while the U.S. Chamber of Congress pushed for passage.
The House voted 373-52 in favor of the bill, which was supported by every voting Democrat, while 52 Republicans opposed it
While it’s all well and good for Tea Party theorists to stand their ground on whatever it is they believe about state sovereignty and the enumerated powers, the rest of us live in the modern world and the wheels ‘o interstate commerce have to spin.
On the health care law, Brown hit on the benefits to senior citizens and those with employer-provided health insurance very hard. Makes sense with this audience, who are mostly either union members or on Medicare. In my experience, those WITH health insurance are going to be our biggest challenge on the law. I think there’s a more generous way to look at this than “greed”. They have health insurance, and they are worried that it will be taken away. If one has what one needs, “change” can appear to be all downside risk. They have also been brutally misinformed on this law, because misinforming them on this law benefitted Republicans politically in 2010.
This is Connie Schultz, who is a journalist and author and Brown’s wife. She is showing off their new dog in this photo. His name is “Franklin”, after FDR:
This is Angela Zimmann, who is running for Congress and something of a “natural” at campaigning, IMO:
Interstate Commerce: An Idea Whose Time Has ComePost + Comments (26)