6 thoughts on “The Senate Vote”

  1. That kind of rhetoric, about how the other side has “no coherent argument,” doesn’t move me. I am certain that (i) despite what Obama may think, Eugene Volokh or Glenn Reynolds are just as smart as he is and (ii) either of them is capable of mounting a coherent argument on any issue where they disagree with him. It’s a disease of the left, the insistence that they are so much smarter than their opponents.

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  3. I’m generally in agreement with the idea that dismissing your opponents as being less intelligent (not uniquely a liberal failure) or less moral (also neither uniquely a liberal or conservative failure) is lazy. But, Obama is still right that this vote appears to have largely been a political outcome, and not one based on coherent arguments. The question is, did the people who voted against the bill believe that there are coherent arguments for why this bill would cause harm, be unconstitutional, or did so because they would face political threat.
    One can ask the same question in reverse, of course.
    I have a question, related, I think to the analytic skills of those supporting various points of view. Is there an equivalent of the Slate graphic on gun deaths since Newton for the “opposite” side (that is, a link-sourced list of incidents in which folks had stopped potential crimes using guns kept in their homes)?
    Slate graphic: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2012/12/gun_death_tally_every_american_gun_death_since_newtown_sandy_hook_shooting.html
    The graphic is a remarkable example of the new age of data. Interactive controls allow searching by age, location, gender, but, even more important, to get fuller information about the gun incident itself. I’d be interested in seeing a parallel collection of data for reported incidents in which folks believe they’d thwarted a crime with a gun. Does one exist?
    I’ve read the analysis at the Harvard Violence Project, which argues that evidence of preventing violence with guns is very limited (and, that in many cases availability of guns escalated an incident), but it would be very educational to see the raw data on such incidents, like we now can on gun deaths. Of course, neither source would be complete, but it would nevertheless be useful.

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  4. Dec 19: “Mr. Obama did not announce any specific policy goals, saying only that Mr. Biden would head a task force of Cabinet officials and outside organizations that will produce legislative proposals no later than the end of January.
    “This is not some Washington commission that will study the issue for six months then publish a report that gets read and gets put aside,” the president said.
    “This time, the words need to lead to action,” he added.”
    I thought at the time, How can Obama make such a rookie mistake? Anyone with experience in legislation would know that the urgency of Newtown a week ago would be greater than the urgency of Newtown three months ago.
    Now I have formed the view that he was lying in December about his intent and hope to get legislation through, that all along he expected that proposed gun control legislation would lose but that he would be able to tar those against it in the House with the view that they were opposing a Senate-passed bill which was the will of the people, and thus harvest gains for the Dems in 14.
    His anger and confusion in the last few days then make sense in knowing that he’s been shown to be impotent even in dealing with the Senate. Unless Dems make miraculous gains in the House in 14, it’s ‘caretaker’ for him from now on out. Really grave miscalculation on his part.

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  5. dave s.,
    I would have thought that handing it off to a committee headed by Biden was a clear signal that he was back-burnering the issue.
    Maybe Obama didn’t understand what he was signaling to Congress?

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