Americans, in general, like to believe in the concept of "American Exceptionalism." This doctrine can be summed up as: "We're the best damn country on the planet, wouldn't the rest of you lesser countries agree?" But to me, what is telling is that whenever nascent democratic forms of government develop in other places in the world (born through the ravages of war, popular revolt, simple modernization, or any of a number of other reasons) and the people affected have the opportunity to select what form their new democracies shall take; they almost without exception (pun intended) choose some form of the British parliamentary system, rather than American-style representative democracy.

The reasons most fledgling democratic governments choose parliamentary systems rather than our presidential/congressional system are likely as varied as the countries in which they develop. But I'm guessing there are two differences in the British system that are more attractive to new countries than what the American system has to offer. Both of these, in a tangential way, have recently been in the news.

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Democrats, from Barack Obama to the houses of Congress, have done a remarkable job of championing transparency in the legislative process of late, even though most people have barely noticed this trend (due, no doubt, to the media's lack of interest in the broad subject). Whether it will eventually help Democrats or hurt them politically is still an open question (as is the question of whether Democrats can ever manage to brag about anything positive they've managed to get done... which is always an open question when talking about Democrats). But I maintain that if the public gets used to such transparency, it'll be good for everyone, and good for American politics, in the end. Whether a few Democrats have to suffer to achieve this goal or not.

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With the health reform battle in Congress over (at least for now), Democrats are teeing up the next big legislative fight -- reforming the way the American financial sector does its business. This may be the last big non-budget piece of legislation Congress manages to pass this year, before the fall election season really consumes everyone's attention in Washington. Some "jobs" legislation may pass, but Democrats are wary of the "second stimulus" label, so these bills likely won't be that big in scope. Other minor agenda items may pass as well, but as for the remaining large-bore issues on the Democratic agenda, reforming the financial system looks like the only one positioned with a good shot of actually making it through Congress. Some progress may be made on other fronts (immigration reform, education reform, energy policy, etc.), but most Congress-watchers are betting that none of these will succeed in becoming law before the midterm elections. On other contentious issues (such as "Don't Ask/Don't Tell" repeal, and tackling the deficit), the White House has already punted the ball down the field by "studying" things for a while longer (with reports conveniently not due until after the election). Which leaves us with financial sector reform. Which the White House, of late, has been calling "Wall Street reform."

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Some of you may be wondering at this moment: "Hey, Chris, where's the Friday Talking Points?" Since Congress is off on vacation this week, and since it's been a fairly quiet week on the political front, we decided to give FTP the week off as well. This may add to the confusion yesterday's April Fool article created, for which we sincerely apologize. Tune in next week when our regular Friday roundup resumes its normal schedule. Today, instead, we're going to feature our monthly "Obama Poll Watch" column, which takes a look back at last month's poll numbers for President Obama.

Unhealthy Bounce

Fans of Obama have been wondering "Where's the bounce?" for the past week or so. Signing health reform into law was one of the biggest issues Obama campaigned on, so everyone was looking for a healthy bounce in Obama's poll numbers after it passed. This bounce has either failed to materialize yet, or is so gradual it likely won't end up being called a "bounce." A few more weeks of polling will likely resolve this open question, one way or the other.

But Obama's approval numbers did manage to rise this month, which stops a nine-month slide downwards. He may have bottomed out, in other words. But this gain was modest indeed, only two-tenths of a percent, so it can't really be said that his numbers are improving much, at least not yet.

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I apologize for the abrupt nature of this announcement, but today's article will be my last public column as a blogger. But, dear reader, do not despair, because I will be moving up to bigger and better things.

As of tomorrow, instead of writing the weekly offering of whimsical (some might say foolish) talking points for Democrats to consider when being interviewed by the media, I will instead be paid by the Democratic National Committee to write up this list for private distribution among all Democratic officeholders, as the official Democratic Talking Points Of The Week.

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Is your email private? You may think it is, but you may also be surprised how easy it is for law enforcement to access it without a warrant. For instance, any email you write today requires a warrant before the police can take a look at it. But 180 days from now, that same email that you just sent can be accessed without a warrant.

The problem stems from technology moving faster than the legislative process. Much faster. On the order of comparing a cheetah to a snail, in fact. The main law for digital privacy is the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986. Think about that for a moment -- 1986. For those not old enough to remember, at this point in computer history the World Wide Web did not exist (nor did the browsers to access it), email itself was in its infancy, and computer "networks" were (for the most part) local groups of computers tied together (as in a single office). The Macintosh was two years old. The computer of choice in the business world was the IBM PC. Diskettes held around 800 kilobytes, and a hard drive that was 20 megabytes was considered so big it would be hard to fill it up. Today, a single file can top 20 megabytes in size.

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You can call it his groove, or you can call it his mojo, or (if you're less Austin Powers-minded), you can call it his political momentum. But whatever you choose to call it, Barack Obama has emerged, phoenix-like, from the ashes of the healthcare debate rancor and is now forging ahead on many fronts. This political rebirth is not guaranteed of success in any way, but it certainly is refreshing to see, I have to say.

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A question which is causing no small degree of fear among Republican leaders in Washington right now is whether the Tea Parties are going to turn out to be a good thing or a bad thing for the Republican Party. Republican party wonks are torn between welcoming the enthusiasm the Tea Party folks bring into their "big tent," all the while worrying that this very vocal group is going to be dictating what is and what is not acceptable in Republicanism from this point on. Which, the seasoned politicians and party hacks know, may prove to provoke a backlash among independent voters, and lead to losing elections Republicans should have won.

Call it the old "you sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind" problem. So far, Republicans appear willing to walk this tightrope, in anticipation of gaining all those lovely motivated voters -- but the saner heads among Republican officeholders are privately planning to give the Tea Parties only early lip service (in hopes of winning the primaries), and then quickly tacking away from them after the primaries are over (in hopes of winning the general elections). How this strategy plays out will be the most interesting dynamic in this year's midterms. And Democrats should do everything they can to exploit this schism in Republicanland.

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What a week!

Into the cake mix that was this week went triumphant House votes, Senate votes, and then even another House vote, just for good luck. Well whipped, it went into the oven of overheated Republican rhetoric, but came out just fine in the end when the buzzer dinged (or the dinger buzzed?). It was finally served up to President Obama for his signature, complete with the tasty, tasty frosting of Democratic schadenfreude (from watching the Republicans have such a public hissy fit).

Heh. More on cake in a moment.

No matter how you slice it, President Obama and the Democrats in Congress have achieved a stunning legislative accomplishment -- one which had been pronounced dead over and over again for the past year by the punditocracy. Obama has now delivered upon one of his signature campaign issues, and (by doing so) dramatically improved his party's chances in the upcoming midterm elections.

Personally, I spent much of the week wandering around in a daze, mumbling "I can't believe they actually did it." After all, these are Democrats we're talking about. And Democrats simply haven't been known (for quite a while) for such cohesion and legislative muscle.

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[Program Note: This is a repeat of a column I wrote last November (originally published on November 16, 2009). I felt it needed another look, no matter where you stand on the healthcare reform debate. Because the job is simply not over yet, no matter what perspective you're coming from. We may be on a new path, but we have in no way reached the end of the road on this particular debate. While getting to this point has been politically exhausting for just about everyone concerned, always keep in mind that the journey's not over yet. In any case, I thought this would be a good time to remind everyone that this will likely be a hot-button issue for years to come in American politics.]

The struggle for healthcare reform is not going to end this year. By saying that, I am not breaking any news about Harry Reid or the Senate, or even about the chances for passage of any particular bill or healthcare reform scheme before New Year's Eve -- rather, I am urging people to take a step back and view healthcare reform from a much bigger-picture point of view. Because whatever passes is not going to be the final word on the subject. As with almost any sweeping social legislation, it's going to take a few revisions before we get it right. Perfect bills almost never pass. The more normal course of events in Washington is that compromises pass, and then are strengthened later on. Healthcare reform should be viewed in the same way.

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