Joseph A. Califano Jr., President Lyndon Johnson's domestic policy adviser, urges President Obama to take quick action on gun control:
Obama has a unique opportunity: a lame-duck session of Congress. If he learns from the lesson of LBJ--["We have only two weeks, maybe only 10 days before the gun lobby gets organized," Johnson instructed his staff after RFK's assassination]--and takes advantage of the fact that many members can vote their conscience without fear of retribution by the gun lobby because they are not seeking reelection, this nation may "complete the task" of passing comprehensive gun controls.
Califano's emphasis on lame-duckism is peculiar. Congressional incumbents tend to stay around--2012's reelection rate was 90 percent--which means they're already running again, which means they're already engaged in Washington's madness of perpetual political fundraising, which means they know how to accommodate insanity.
This House? This hovel of gun-toting, right-winging hobgoblins? Fat chance. And even if the odds slimmed down, any lower-chamber bill would be blocked in the Senate.
We the people are a reasonably sane majority at the dysfunctional mercy of nihilistic gangsters.
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