OPINION:
“Mark Warner a reliable Obama foot soldier despite bipartisanship claims” (Web, Oct. 24) notes that Sen. Mark R. Warner, Virginia Democrat, showed some independence during his Senate term by supporting gun rights, which happens to be one of the few areas in which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid tolerates deviations from the party line.
However, where was Mr. Warner’s voice when the Democrats locked their Republican colleagues out of the room during the debate on Obamacare, when the Democrats falsely claimed that “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor,” when they failed to pass a budget almost every year, when Mr. Reid refused to negotiate with the House as a government shutdown loomed, or when Mr. Reid employed the “nuclear option” on the Senate filibuster rules just so he could pack the second-highest court in the land with Democratic Party loyalists? When it really counted, Mr. Warner chose to march in lockstep with Mr. Reid in order to hold onto any standing he had in his party.
Mr. Warner may have done good work as governor of Virginia when he governed like a moderate. However, a moderate in the party that is focused on “fundamentally transforming” America has little chance to be anything more than ineffectual. Virginians should not be asked to pay such a heavy price — handing over their voice in the Senate to Mr. Reid — just because Mr. Warner joined the wrong party.
VICTOR CHOLEWICKI
Washington
Please read our comment policy before commenting.