Who Who Owns You Senator Graham?

I have always admired Senator Lindsey Graham, I saw him with the late Tim Russert on Meet the Press. I think it was 2005 or 06 and I said the same thing I said about a seemingly conservative Arkansas Governor on the News Hour in 1990 this was a thoughtful guy, and I could support him for President if it came to that. In the years since, I have observed Senator Graham being both the same considerate and nuanced politician I saw on Meet the Press, while at the same time an extremely, if not over the top partisan. As I watched Senator Graham support a John McCain who ran away from the Maverick brand that I first saw in Senator Graham, I said both of these guys have been “turned”. I recall the Obama ad that they ran against John McCain which had him drifting sometimes to the left, then back to the right. That was true of both Senator McCain and Senator Graham. That left - right two step is not unusual in national politics as President Obama finds him self often caught in the left – right cross fire. But, when I read that Senator Graham is now shifting gears on the Climate Change legislation, it caught my attention – on several levels - because of the rationale – and the timing.

Senator Graham has been a fierce negotiator in crafting both the immigration and climate bills. Now, for him to assert that the un- proposed immigration bill would leave him blindsided or the GOP without anyone at the table is simply not true. His assertion creates the illusion and more fodder for tea partiers that an immigration bill is impending is a lie and he knows it because an issue as complex as immigration is one that will take almost as much time as Health Care, and any preliminary discussions do not equate to final legislation. In addition Senator Graham knows that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in a fight for his political life in Nevada is in no hurry to start what will be an incendiary debate which will impact his state with a high Latino population. There is no real desire for a fight on immigration, despite the attention and angst stemming from the new bill in Arizona. All that conspires to make Senator Graham’s actions suspicious.

What I have never suspected is the impact of money and influence in politics or the extent they will go to achieve their goals. The economic dynamics of any issue, usually lends to strange bedfellows, alliances that are often ad hoc, and are more likely to shift, than last past the next voting cycle. Those dynamics that drove climate change had to have gotten to Senator Graham who had been working diligently behind the scenes to craft an alliance with Senator Kerry of Massachusetts and Senator Joe Lieberman of Connection. All three senators brought to the table by a combination of self serving interest and a desire for change (although my cynical side says it was the former rather than the latter that carried the most influence.) Now out of nowhere, Senator Graham says the immigration debate still light years in Congressional lives, and away from a rudimentary framework, causes Senator Graham to “walk”. Who benefits from this about face? Special interest no doubt. With the entire sausage making done quietly and privately, where the White House was prepared to give major concessions to GOP patrons, the lobbyist on both sides stood to lose out. Lobbyist make money from conflict, when both sides agree the bottom line for K Street gets smaller. This bill for all practical purposes was low hanging fruit, for President Obama, with the Democrats getting what they wanted on Cap and Trade and the oil lobby friends got what they wanted, and let’s we forget President Obama’s huge gift on off shore drilling.

The lobbyist saw this bill moving too soon, too fast and with it hampering their ability to tap into the partisan golden goose that gave so much during health care. So humm, curiously - and oh by way only a few days removed from being called a homosexual, Senator Graham changes tunes – Questions that are begged, but few will have answers. Now I have no personal issues with one’s sexual orientation, but the fact is, homosexuality is often not survivable, Barney Frank, notwithstanding. And Congressman Frank is a northern Democrat, liberal, and for many he fits the archetype, Senator Lindsey Graham has no such cover. All which begs the question Senator Graham who owns you? And when there is smoke – where there is fire? At the end of the day, ugliness as a weapon of the status quo, may trump good public policy.