Monday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

The nuclear security summit gets underway today at the Washington Convention Center. I just heard on NPR that it's the largest such gathering since FDR convened world leaders to start the United Nations back in 1945. This summit is designed to prevent terrorists from obtaining nuclear material. That is, of course, a worthy goal. But, how come it hasn't been done already? George Bush was too preoccupied with Iraq, which wasn't a nuclear threat, to worry about actual nuclear threats. Another failed legacy.

Congress returns today. The Senate will vote this afternoon to end the GOP filibuster of an extension of unemployment insurance and COBRA. Last Monday, hundreds of thousands of Americans lost their benefits because of the GOP's filibuster. No surprise the same GOPers who helped lead us to the brink of financial collapse are doing their best to ruin the most vulnerable victims of the economic downturn. I do hope the White House and Senate Democrats have a strategy to get this legislation passed and enacted.

Over the next few days, I suspect we'll get a sense of the mood of House Democrats and whether they have the stomach to take up what they view as "controversial" legislation over the next few months. There's increasing chatter that the GOP could take the House in November. Last week, Nate Silver posted an analysis of generic polling that showed a possible 50 seat loss. The House Democratic caucus is going to decide whether to move ahead with legislation that could inspire their base, i.e. ENDA and DADT, or they're going to take avoid anything that smacks of contention. My guess is they opt for the latter.

Let's get it started...