Obama's Vote of Confidence - America's First

The Politicizer ^ | 3/13/2010 | Conor Rogers

[FMoran]

Unique to Parliamentary Democracies, a ‘Vote of Confidence’ can spell the end of any Prime Minister’s term. In the parliamentary system, the Prime Minister’s power depends upon his ability to hold a majority caucus – and the failure of any of his major initiatives to pass results in the loss of the confidence of his membership. In essence, when the Prime Minister can’t lead his party on his budget or main social initiatives, a Ministers time in office comes to a swift end.

Had the Iraq War not passed the British parliament, Tony Blair’s days would have ended earlier. More recently, a failed vote over finances toppled the Dutch ruling party just this week. The Canadian Parliament was temporarily shut down in January as Harper’s Conservatives scrambled to avoid a no-confidence vote – but the United States has nothing even comparable to this. Our Presidents are dealt blows to their popularity, or may lose an element of their agenda – but this current healthcare situation, despite its similarities to ‘HillaryCare 1992’ is unprecedented.

This is because unlike most Presidents, Obama has pushed forward with an up-or-down vote – that he very may well lose – on Healthcare.

[Marty62]

VOC would be meaningless under our Constitution.

[updatedscreenname]

We do it differently on this side of the pond.

Hopefully come November enough seats will be flipped to get
at least one committee chair. Committee hearings have been used to tie up the executive branch that couldn’t hold the public confidence. Special prosecutor have also been used by both parties to tie up the executive branch.

[colorado tanker]

Barry's incompetence has effectively made this a vote of confidence. If he loses his health care bill he will become a neutered president the rest of his term. He should never have let it come to this.

[L,TOWM]

He could not help himself. That is the overriding feature of incompetence - failure to objectively evaluate your own limts and lack of self-knowledge about your own personal possibilities. Throw in the requirements of any idealogue to pursue implementing the ideology at any cost and add a dash of believing your own bull-—t narcissism gives you a great recipe for Jimmy Carter Redux.

The big problem this go round is: Where in the world is our Reagan?

[colorado tanker]

Where in the world is our Reagan?

I don't know, but he's (or she's) out there somewhere. In the words of the Gipper:

We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look.