Do not underestimate how many congressional Republicans would like to send
checks to their people. Recently, I was on a call with the bipartisan House
Problem Solvers Caucus and a similar group of senators. I was struck by how
passionately these Republicans and Democrats are committed to one another
across party lines, how deftly they used the evenly divided Congress to
restart the Covid-19 relief effort in December, how fervently they want to
break the partisan logjam.
If this doesn’t work and Republicans go into full obstruction mode,
Democrats should absolutely kill the filibuster. (David F. Brooks, "The Case For Biden Optimism", 21 January 2021)
The phone rang, a familiar number. I let it ring, long enough to take a shluk
from the bottle of Waldweben Peach Schnapps and shove it back in the upper
left desk drawer, then picked up. "Brooks here."
"Hello, David. How's married life?"
"Suits me. What can I do for you, outside of something I can't do for you?"
"You can do us a favor."
"Where have I heard that line before?"
"It's just a little thing."
I sighed, probably audibly, and tried to gather my wits. "I'm out of the game,
pal. I don't do it any more. I just have to do one column a week, I have a gig
at Aspen. I have a nice new wife, she doesn't like politics, she likes
religion, go figure. I like religion too. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy
inside."