Imagine you’re a Senator with almost 30 years of seniority. You’re the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which deals with wonderful and exciting issues like taxes.
In the past, you’ve spent considerable time promoting how “power-full” you are as the chairman and the “power” your committee has.
All of a sudden, the economy is going into the tank. There’s talk of a stimulus package. You sharpen your pencil, get out your calculator, prepare your staff, and wait for the call from your leaders, your fellow Senators and Representatives, or the President. You wait and wait.
But, the call never comes. A deal was made and you were left out. You watch from the sideline. The spotlight missed you. You and your committee are an afterthought. You are basically told to “pass this quickly.” You are just an observer.
To make sure folks back home know you are still a player, you schedule some “spotlight time” by doing an interview on CNN. You send out a notice to the Montana media so you can get noticed – to let them know you are there fighting for all that is good in America – like a few billion dollars in tax rebates.
Your leaders left you behind. How horrible. To compound the problem, it’s your re-election time. Double damn. Luckily, the senator has about $9 million in the bank to blow back up the “powerful” balloon.
It seems this may have happened to U.S. Senator Max Baucus this week, at least according to a story in today’s Billings Gazette, in which we found:
The senator said he was not privy to the negotiations that produced the current bill, although the legislation needs his committee’s approval to stay alive. Baucus did not seem to dwell on that fact.
“We are where we are,” he said. “Let’s just move forward and find a way to get this passed quickly.”
Heartbreaker. Now Montanans may have to remove Max’s photo from the dictionary, where it’s located beside the word “Powerful.”
The Western Word 
Hey Anonymous – thanks for stopping by. In regards to some of your comments, let me try to answer. Yes, some people actually care about my “musings on politics.” Some agree and some disagree. About the “inner workings of congress” let me say this: My experience and knowledge goes a little further than the Schoolhouse Rock song, “I’m just a bill…” I am not really trying to end a senator’s 30-year career, just shining some light on some of the issues as I see them. People deserve to see some other views even if we disagree with them. Your question: “Didn’t Mrs. Johnson mention something about laws having to pass both houses of Congress?” My answer: Yes, I learned that many years ago watching Schoolhouse Rock. But this was negotiations, not a bill working its way through the House and Senate. The senator was not part of the negotiations which was revealed in the article in the Billings Gazette. He was part of the negotiations during the last Bush tax rebate and he seemed to anger his fellow democrats. It looks that this time, they threw him overboard and invited Sen. Lieberman to the negotiation table with Sen. Reid. So, the so-called powerful senator from the tax committee in the Senate was not invited to the big game when it dealt with taxes! That had to leave a mark. You state, “Maybe he was crafting his own plan all along.” Maybe he is and maybe he’ll delay the bill’s passage for a few weeks and keep the money from flowing into the pockets of the citizens so they can spend it and help stimulate the economy?In response to “being only able write authoritatively about REO Speedwagon.” Thanks, I’m glad you at least enjoyed those posts. Keep Pushin’ I will. Again thanks for stopping by and voicing your opinion. I see you came from a senate.gov domain. That’s neat that you can surf the web, visit blogs, and leave opinions from government computers. Is this a great country or what?
Imagine that you think people actually care about your musings on politics. You’re so deluded and self-absorbed that you go to the trouble of setting up a blog. Now, with the internet providing a world stage for ramblings that once would only put a bartender to sleep, you decide to write about the inner workings of Congress. You write furiously, confident that the snippets of news you’ve seen and your high school civics class had adequately prepared you to sarcastically criticize a U.S. Senator.Finally, you type your last word. You press “publish”, convinced you’ve just ended the senator’s 30-year career with one tart post. Suddenly, an unfamiliar pang of doubt creeps into your mind. Didn’t Mrs. Johnson mention something about laws having to pass both houses of Congress? Could it be that the senator wasn’t part of the talks because they were taking place in the House? Maybe he was crafting his own plan all along. Everyone will know I didn’t do my homework…once again! Imagine the humiliation at realizing you’re only able to write authoritatively about REO Speedwagon.