Montana Maven's
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Kevin Baker in his Harper's article "Barack Hoover Obama" called Senators Baucus, Nelson, Conrad, "aged satraps from *vast windy places". John Adams, reporter for the Great Falls Tribune, ropes an interview with one of them, Senator Max Baucus, and asks him why Single Payer is not on the table and what about all those insurance, pharma and medical services contributions.

The first part of the interview has Senator Baucus at one point accusing Adams of being "confrontational".  Something about the reporter's "tone". You listen and decide.  I find it strange and disturbing that reporters are chided for asking what basically are follow up questions. But the follow up question did give Max the opportunity to explain that  "Obama does not favor single payer" and that's kind of why single payer doesn't have a voice at all. John Adams Baucus Interview Part 1 & 2

The second part of the interview is also interesting in the discussion about how money plays no part in his decisions as a Senator.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch: Lobbyists Fishing with Baucus
From what I can tell from this interview,Senator Baucus is very sincere that money plays no part in his decisions.  Money and power though are different things.  Also if you are constantly hanging around golfing etc with corporate lobbyists, you may never really hear the other side.  Baucus didn't even know about Senator Sanders SB 703.  So he's not hanging with Bernie; and his staff hasn't kept him up to speed on that particular bill.  He didn't know about Conyers or McDermott's bills either.  He knew there was a bill but obviously had not read it and must not  have asked to be briefed on it.  There seems to be a lack of interest in real change or a curiosity in what might be.  Perhaps certain pyschological types interested in the "now" and the "status quo" not the future or possibilities are attracted to government work.  They are the managers of our society not the engineers and architects. I've often said that the balance we need is not between idealogy or philosophy, but having more engineering and architect brains involved along with, of course, the more emphathetic brains.

The people we have now are the kind  who by and large didn't know the difference between Sunnis and Shia.  See Jeff Stein's "Can You Tell a Sunni From a Shia?"
In Stein's article I found a key passage which might explain how Max sees himself.  He sees himself (and perhaps Obama too) as more of a manager. (Thanks to William Greider's new book "Come Home, America"  for steering me to Stein.)

My curiosity about our policymakers’ grasp of Islam’s two major branches was piqued in 2005, when Jon Stewart and other TV comedians made hash out of depositions, taken in a whistleblower case, in which top F.B.I. officials drew blanks when asked basic questions about Islam. One of the bemused officials was Gary Bald, then the bureau’s counter terrorism chief. Such expertise, Mr. Bald maintained, wasn’t as important as being a good manager.

A few months later, I asked the F.B.I.’s spokesman, John Miller,about Mr. Bald’s comments. “A leader needs to drive the organization forward,” Mr. Miller told me. “If he is the executive in a counter terrorism operation in the post-9/11 world, he does not need to memorize the collected statements of Osama bin Laden, or be able toread Urdu to be effective. ... Playing ‘Islamic Trivial Pursuit’ was a cheap shot for the lawyers and a cheaper shot for the journalist. It’s just a gimmick.”

Of course, I hadn’t asked about reading Urdu or Mr. bin Laden’s writings.

So why would they know the difference between say, Canada's health care plan and France's?  Perhaps they don't care.  And they all see reporters' questions as just "cheap shots" or "gimmicks". 

Oh dear, we really do have to have new parties. It seems such a careless, yes, careless way of doing business.  This just isn't working out very well for most of us. 

*Footnote - My only disagreement with the brilliant Mr. Baker and his brilliant essay is that there are aged satraps in narrow windy places too like Chicago and New York where I also have lived.  But I realize the frustration of people who live in cities with millions of people being condescended to by satraps from places with more snakes and cows than people. 

    

 

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