Für die Demokraten, die amerikanischen Mainstreammedien und auch die deutsche Presse war ja lange Zeit klar:
Die bösen Republikaner haben Schuld am Stillstand in Washington...
Und jetzt der Schock:
http://washingtonexaminer.com/brookings ... _click=rssBrookings Institution scholars, inspired by baseball statistics, conducted an analysis of the 113th Congress that points rather directly at the Democrat-controlled Senate as a the locus of congressional gridlock.
The analysis opens with the observation that the House, contrary to expectation, passed twice as many bills as the Senate in 2013. Why? Because of the Senate committee process.
"When we look at this category, then, we begin to understand where the problem lies: even in the traditionally collegial Senate, 87 percent of bills die in committee," Molly Jackman and Saul Jackman, of Brookings, and Brian Boessenecker write in Politico. "While the filibuster may grab all the headlines, committees are a far deadlier weapon."
That observation undermines the conventional wisdom about Republican opposition to President Obama causing gridlock. (even taking into account the statement from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who said in 2009 that "the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.")
Filibusters are the weapon of last resort for a Senate minority, in terms of procedural maneuvers they can use to block a bill's passage. Committees, on the other hand, are run by the majority party. The chairman's gavel is a hammer that Democrats can use to kill Republican proposals.
Nicht die bösen Republikaner sind also schuld am Stillstand in Washington, sondern in erster Linie der demokratisch geführte Senat unter Harry Reid.
Wer hätte das gedacht?
Ob SPON und Co. wohl darüber berichten werden?