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Saturday, December 18, 2010

Senatorial Follies

At 11:30 the cloture motion on the DREAM Act failed to reach the super-majority obstructionist Republicans have made the New Normal. The vote was, 55-41, a clear majority for a sensible bit of legislation giving at least some immigrants some kind of path to citizenship. Just fifteen minutes later the Don't Ask Don't Tell repeal did indeed pass its worst Senatorial hurdle. The final vote is scheduled soon and everyone is saying it's a done deal. Hard to believe, but there you go.

Each vote raises immediate further considerations. I wonder how the failure of the DREAM Act is playing out in major Spanish-speaking media, whether primary blame for this failure is being pinned on Republicans or Democrats. If Republicans get the lion's share of the blame this could be another nail in the coffin of the white racist GOP in a beautifully browning US of A. But dreadful "NO" votes from the likes of Democrat Jon Tester might fatally undermine the force of that narrative. In respect to DADT, it is important to note that the President's signature is not actually the end of the policy as you might expect, since an additional layer was introduced early on in the backroom wheeling and dealing phase of the process, whereby the repeal of the policy would require an additional "Certification" by the President, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and the Secretary of Defense. The fact that Legislators and Administration figures are doing a victory lap while all the lgbtq organizations are now instantly and insistently pressing the "Certification" issue both suggest to me that this might be the next endless occasion for pointless foot-dragging on the question.

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