General Discussion

...having a platform to speak and be heard about issues and pressure people to act on your agenda--which the POTUS certainly does have through numerous opportunities, but not so much Congress at any level.

His suggestion that the only real power of a Democratic Congress will be the bully pulpit is totally wrong unless you redefine the term bully pulpit to mean something different--which makes no sense to me since a pulpit is a platform or stand in a church used by clergy to preach, read scripture, and lead worship services; not a place where rhetoric is turned into action.

And, his suggestion that when he worked in the Congress in the minority and got a lot of things done back in the 1980s is in any way applicable to the way Congress works today is laughable on its face.

Now, in the 1980s there was much more of a bully pulpit for Congress because of the way people consumed news, so being able to get in front of news reporters and cameras made much more of a difference then--not so much at all in the age of Social Media and Faux News.

The way I interpret his post is:
- Democrats shouldn't even bother passing legislation or issuing subpoenas because they are going nowhere.
- The only real power controlling Congress will give Democrats is the ability to be heard when they speak out--based IMO on an antiquated idea of how media works.
- Because Democrats are not able to use the power of the minority like Republicans did 40 years ago they both do not know what they are doing and they do not even try to do anything.

I just happen to think he's out of touch and wrong.

But given his supply-side economic background, I think he was out of touch and wrong even back then.