Al Franken Seating Puts Liberal Pressure on Obama Agenda

Progressives are positively exultant over one of their own, Al Franken, being (finally!) seated as U.S. Senator from Minnesota.

But underneath his intransparent surface, does President Obama feel the same relieved joy?

Or does the presence of a forceful progressive voice, and a filibuster-proof 60 Senate-seat majority, create pressures on Obama to stop his futile "bipartisan" pretensions, to grow past his fearful political timidity, and to pass a fully liberal agenda?

Al Franken is an exceptionally astute, accomplished, well-educated guy, and an unabashed, outspoken progressive. (See my Profile of Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota .) His acerbic wit and preternaturally smart insights have been widely celebrated, to the universal delight of liberals.

Conservatives hate Franken's politics, and they hate him. (After all, one of his best-selling books is Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot.) Sen. Franken will undoubtedly become for the Republican party what Ted Kennedy used to be: their much-flogged, endlessly ridiculed symbol of the scary evils of liberalism.

In other words, until now, Al Franken's uncompromising approach to dealing with conservatives has been precisely the opposite of Barack Obama's instincts toward liberal timidity and bipartisan pandering. (As a senator, Franken will necessarily become more collegial with the other side of the partisan aisle, but zebras ultimately don't change stripes, and neither do politicians.)

If Franken had been elected as, say, the 54th Democratic senator, President Obama could treat him like he has staunch progressive Sen. Russ Feingold: as an interesting eccentric of integrity to be ignored.

But as the filibuster-proof 60th Democratic vote in the U.S. Senate, charismatic Sen. Franken becomes a significant player... and one who renders moderate Republican voices, such as Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, much less influential on pending legislation.

For the first time in 30 years, since the Carter administration, a President has a filibuster-proof majority of his own party leading the Senate. With the swearing in next week of Sen. Al Franken, the Democratic majority becomes more liberal, and the Republican minority becomes close to politically impotent.

But is that what President Obama wants? Given Obama's depressing string of broken and procrastinated promises and seemingly solemn pledges, I, for one, am no longer sure.

Here's what I am sure of: President Obama now has no excuses to not wholeheartedly support the liberal agenda that he expressly campaigned on, and for which he was elected. And for which he was narrowly selected over Hillary Clinton.

With 60 Democratic seats in the Senate, a huge Democratic majority in the House, and the formidable political skills of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the time will likely NEVER be better during the Obama administration to pass urgently needed, no-compromise legislation on healthcare reform, climate change, energy, education reform, college affordability, immigration reform and much more.

The burning question is: Is Obama up to the task? Or will the President inexplicably continue to be cowed by bullying Republican sound bites and blowhard conservative posturing?

I believe the jury is out on that question. And I strongly believe that the answer will have great bearing on whether or not Barack Obama is elected to a second term in the White House.

Meanwhile, reread a basic litany of Obama's campaign promises (below). Hopefully, with the swearing in of Sen. Al Franken, we can look forward to Obama pushing hard to fulfill the liberal agenda.

• Obama Campaign Promises: Health Care
• Obama Campaign Promises: Ending the Iraq War
• Obama Campaign Promises: Energy & the Environment
• Obama Campaign Promises: Education Reform
• Obama Campaign Promises: The Economy for Middle-Class Americans

(Photo taken of Sen. Al Franken and wife Franni on June 30, 2009: Jeffrey Thompson/Getty Images)