A FUNNY THING HAPPENED TO HIM ON THE WAY TO DIVINITY – AT 8:29 A.M. ET:  Any dreams at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue that the passage of health-care "reform" would open the floodgates to new, "progressive" legislation, are being thwarted, not only by Republicans in Congress, but by Democrats as well.  "Caution" seems to be the new byword.  From The Politico:

The president’s push to turn health care reform into a catalyst for the rest of his agenda is getting mixed early reactions on Capitol Hill, where Democratic leaders' desire to take advantage of healthy majorities before the November elections must contend with lawmakers’ survival instincts.

White House aides told POLITICO earlier this week that an emboldened Barack Obama plans to parlay his win on health care into a crack down on Wall Street excesses, a rewrite of education and campaign finance laws and possibly a climate change bill — all before the fall's midterms.

But aides and members, Republicans and Democrats alike, say that a Wall Street crackdown was coming — and progress on climate change, immigration and other contentious measures probably wasn't — no matter what had happened with the health care bill.

“I don’t see it creating momentum,” said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who has negotiated across party lines on several significant issues in his first term.

Yes, of course, some Democrats want to use their large majorities in Congress – majorities that will probably melt away in November – to pass their favorite bills.  But they're getting a big "wait a minute" from the endangered species among them. 

But as party leaders plot the course for the rest of the year, some fatigued Democrats in tough re-election races may yell “uncle” at the first sight of another controversial bill.

“If [Obama’s] saying he’s got the stride going and he’s on a winning streak and that was just the first of many things he thinks he can get through, I would actually say the opposite,” said the top aide to a member of the conservative Blue Dog Coalition. “That ship has sailed. That capital was expended on cap and trade first and health care second.”

COMMENT:  A wise president would, at a moment like this, reach out to the opposition and challenge the GOP to work with him in coming to agreement on critical issues, like energy policy.  But there's so much anger left over from the health bill that this probably won't happen.  The election in November will decide how this president and Congress will mesh.

March 31, 2010