60?

So, Arlen Specter is now a Democrat. (I know, this is old news by now, but finals torpedoed my recent vow to blog more regularly. As did laziness.)

Anywhoo...I see Democrats and progressives hooting about getting to the filibuster-retardant 60. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but...does this really change anything? I mean, Specter was a moderate Republican who could be expected to vote with the Democrats sometimes. Thus, they would make it to 60 sometimes. Now, he is a moderate Democrat who will likely vote with the Republicans a lot of the time. So, the Democrats will make it to 60 sometimes. Am I missing something here?

I don't mean this to be the standard "there's no difference between the two parties/kick all the bums out" argument. I mostly don't subscribe to that theory and find it pretty facile. But, in this case, I think people are getting caught up in labels. Now he's a Democrat, so Democrats have 60 votes! I just don't see his voting patterns changing much--which, yes, does give some support to the Naderite no-diff-b/t-Dem-Rep view. The point, however, is that he's a moderate. And for moderates, party really is just a convenience thing, a support system. A meaningless label. In the broad view, the two parties do stand for different things, and you can definitely see that in their respective bases. This is why Specter got pushed out of the GOP--his party's base got too extreme. Now he's just a moderate with a different colored tie.

Where I do think this matters is in the comment I just made about the Republican base. They're getting more and more distant from where independent and moderate voters are--i.e., the majority of the country. This is amazing to me. Can the country's political make-up change that quickly? I remember not 3 years ago when it was still political death to be called a liberal, when Republicans could jam through any measures they wanted. Has it really all changed so much? Perhaps I've now been alive long enough to see a political shift--from Reaganism to (bestill my heart!) Obamaism? If that's the case, the next shift won't be for a while. Interesting times. And Specter's defection is just a sign of them--but, really, let's all stop obsessing over 60.