Who needs a filibuster?

Well, we’re past the First 100 Days, and if anything, the Left’s perceived monopoly on power seems to be getting more tenuous by the day. President Obama wants a Credit Card Holder’s Bill of Rights, so he told Congress to draft one.

This time, however, there’s one little problem:

The Senate bill to tighten regulation of credit cards just became a tougher sell to the House yesterday after senators approved an amendment by Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to allow people to carry firearms on visits to national parks.

No, no, no! That’s not how it’s supposed to work! This administration is supposed to be the Second Coming of FDR, and this is the new legislative process:

1. President decides on an edict
2. President demands asks Congress to draft a bill meeting his wishes
3. Congress does so and submits it
4. President gleefully signs bill into law, without any messy hurdles.

That’s the change we’re supposed to believe in: an effective blurring of the lines between the Legislative and Executive branches, with more power in the hands of the Chief Executive than George W. Bush ever had.

So, why isn’t it working?

I’m sure Obama expected something quick and easy, cost be damned. He could whip his pen across the bottom line without even reading, just like he did when he signed off $789 billion of our money with the stimulus bill.

In Camelot II, there aren’t enough Republicans to effectively filibuster, so things like this would be expected to sail right through. There’s only one catch: folks who are disenfranchised and outnumbered learn cunning quickly. Turns out, you just need to add the appropriate riders and amendments, and it slows the whole process down.

So, now Democrats have two choices:

• sign the bill they’ve been ordered to draft, with all the accompanying 2nd Amendment ickiness,
• scrap it altogether, or
• send it back to committee for revision.

None of these options fit the Grand Plan, but they’ll likely have to settle for the first. Support for Coburn’s amendment won’t just come from Republicans, but from moderate Democrats, of which there are many. If anything, the 2nd Amendment is becoming a serious wedge issue for the Democrats, drawing a clear line between the Left and the Center.

And the Left will have to play ball. There’s little chance of getting another draft of the bill that won’t have the same proposed amendment, and such a process could take quite awhile. After all, we don’t want to keep the President waiting, do we?

Coburns’ amendment reinforces a rule signed by former President Bush allowing the carrying of firearms in National parks. The rule was seemingly ignored by the Obama administration until the Brady Campaign gained an injunction, leaving its status uncertain. Now it’s part of a bill the President really wants right now please, so it’s likely to pass.

So, if there’s back-door gun control, does this mean we can play the same game? I think so. After all, it’s already happening. The Democrats have a bid in the works to gain two more house seats by calling Washington D.C. a state (something that the Founders never intended). Senator John Ensign attached the Second Amendment Enforcement Act to it, and it looks like it’s got legs.

Likewise, just as the Left is calling to repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, similar protective language appears in S. 941.

What worked for William Hughes in 1986 could very well work for us in 2009. It may not be pretty, but turnabout’s fair play in politics.