The Moderates Re-Emerge...to Finally Hit the Brakes

It is about time the not-so-ultra-leftist elements of the Democrat party start flexing their muscle against the out-of-control tax-borrow-and-spend Obamaganza underway.

John McCain should not be the only "moderate" with the guts to call all this pork barrel excess what it is...and fight it.

Hopefully he (and we) will begin seeing a dose of reality and measure brought to bear on the fantasy-world federal utopianism with which Obama-Biden-Reid-Pelosi are snowjobbing us all.

Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) broke ranks with Obama today in a Wall Street Journal editorial urging opposition to the latest omnibus spending spree.

"But the bloated omnibus requires sacrifice from no one, least of all the government. It only exacerbates the problem and hastens the day of reckoning. Voters rightly demanded change in November's election, but this approach to spending represents business as usual in Washington, not the voters' mandate.

Now is the time to win back the confidence and trust of the American people. Congress should vote "no" on this omnibus and show working families across the country that we are as committed to living within our means as they are."

Moderates Uneasy With Obama Plan

Moderate and conservative Democrats in the Senate are starting to choke over the massive spending and tax increases in President Barack Obama’s budget plans and have begun plotting to increase their influence over the agenda of a president who is turning out to be much more liberal than they are.

A group of 14 Senate Democrats and one independent huddled behind closed doors on Tuesday, discussing how centrists in that chamber can assert more leverage on the major policy debates that will dominate this Congress.

Afterward, some in attendance made plain that they are getting jitters over the cost and expansive reach of Obama’s $3.6 trillion budget proposal.

Asked when he’d reach his breaking point, Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, one of the most conservative Democrats in the Senate, said: “Right now. I’m concerned about the amount that’s being offered in [Obama’s] budget.”

Another attendee, Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.), said she expected the newly formed caucus to shape Obama’s budget proposal as it moves through Congress.

“We want to give the president a chance, but our concern is going to be on the budget, looking forward,” Landrieu said. She added that she agrees with Obama that there needs to be “fundamental change” in fiscal policy, but she said “we do have to keep our eye on the long term, on intermediate and long-term fiscal responsibility.”

Read the rest here.