Successful politics requires a great deal of luck, perhaps nowhere more so than in the talents of your adversaries.
Margaret Thatcher might have been a short-lived prime minister trying to pick up the pieces of a fallen Callaghan government if Leopoldo Galtieri had not made the staggering decision to invade the Falkland Islands, apparently failing to appreciate that it is inadvisable to invade a nuclear power.
Who knows what would have happeened with Ronald Reagan’s tenure had he not been able to make his bones breaking PATCO (who had endorsed him eight months earlier!) in 1981?
So I hope the religious right is serious about fighting Kathleen Sebelius’ nomination on the grounds that she vetoed laws restricting abortion in Kansas. Kansas’ senators will vote for her – they want her out of the state and away from their jobs. Add that to the Democrats, and it is already possible to break a filibuster – and that is before the few remaining moderate Republicans ask themselves whether this is really a winning cause.
Democratic leadership in the Senate – yes, you, Harry – has been awfully scared of Republican filibuster threats. The threats are hollow – let them keep talking for months, they’ll give up sooner or later – and the sooner the aura is punctured, the better. I suspect very few Americans find abortion the gravest challenge facing our legislature, and those who do will never find a Democrat who makes them happy.
This is a great field for a fight. I hope the Republicans indulge.
