Arlen the Dem

In a late round draft pick, the Democrats of Washington have gotten a new player. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania had gone from being Republican has decided that his party of choice is not so choice anymore and declared his new affiliation as a Democrat - again. This comes as a big change, not only because Specter has been a member of the GOP for 29 years, but because it gives Democrats an even closer shot at an unchallenged majority with 59 seats in the Senate now. Specter was also a Democrat near the beginning of his political career.

This isn't a slam dunk, nothing-but-net deal for Democrats however. The man is a moderate, and afterall, a lifelong Republican. His change of seat does not mean that he will simply follow his new party's line. Arlen Specter has had a record of bucking his old party's system of beliefs, too.

However it is a good sign that when Specter explained his decision to switch parties he made a statement to the effect that his old political buddies have gone through such a severe swing to the right that he can no longer picture himself dealing with them. Can you imagine that a group of people take their beliefs to such an extreme that the only way to deal with them is to give the opoosing party power? Oh...yeah.

All the people can do is wait. Will Specter, with this switch, become a supporter on some of the big ticket agenda points of the Obama presidency? Specter has made comments in the past about many of them, like health care and taxes, saying that these policies were detrimental to the Unites States. As more of these items come down the pike, it remains to be seen if Arlen Specter will be the kind of Democrat people need.