Sam Stein has a nice piece laying out the extent to which Ben Nelson’s rough treatment of Dawn Johnson is inconsistent with his extreme deference to George W. Bush’s nominees:
Nelson’s history of support for Bush appointees is enough to produce heavy cynicism from his own party members when he discusses his opposition to Johnsen now. And in conversations with several Democratic strategists, a few theories were put forward. The first: that Nelson is likely waiting on some sort of quid-pro-quo from the Obama White House in exchange for his vote. After all, during the stimulus debate he was one of the last remaining hold outs, securing in the process some changes to the overall package. The second: that this is payback. As reported by Ryan Grim, the White House has bucked Nelson on one of his top legislative priorities, maintaining government support for the large student lending firms based in his state.
Part of the dynamic, I take it, is simply that there’s not much in the way of progressive strength on the ground in Nebraska. How many Nebraskans do you think have called Nelson’s office to support Dawn Johnson? Written letters? Not sure how many Nebraska-based readers I have, but in terms of getting congress to act, making your views known to your senator is an indispensable tool. If you do get in touch, you might mention that Nelson’s totally wrong about the student loans, too.
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