Ninety percent of Americans favor background checks for buyers of assault weapons. 90%! Yet the bill couldn’t get though the Senate. A good deal of blame goes to Harry Reed, who, when he had the chance, did not get rid of the stupid rules on shutting off debate. Keep in mind that a clear majority of the Senate did favor background checks.
Nonetheless, the main reason this bill is not law must rest with President Obama. The man is just too nice. Maureen Dowd wrote a column in the Sunday Times pointing out how the President could have called in Senators like Coburn (his friend), or Heidi Heitkamp, newly elected to six-year term, and pressed and threatened and promised.
A front-page article in today’s Times was headlined “In Gun Bill Defeat, a President Who Hesitates to Twist Arms.” After a full term in office, one would think that the President would have learned how the game works. You need to call this “shameful” before the vote, not after it was taken. You need to get down into the pit and grapple in the dust. This bill was too important to rise above the fray. Please, Mr. President, fight back.
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