Mark Schmitt on the legislative giants of yore:
It’s starting to look like there’s a pattern when a Democrat becomes president: The president’s party starts with huge majorities in Congress. He puts forward an agenda, one that seems modest by progressive standards. Nonetheless, the agenda meets endless trouble, much of it from the president’s own party, and he bleeds momentum and political capital.
It’s the story of Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and, it seems likely, of Barack Obama.
And yet, while the pattern looks identical from a distance, up close the three presidencies are actually very different. The details tell the story of a transformation in American politics and society since the 1970s, one that is still unresolved.