Yes Howard its Small Ball

[grantcart]

Regarding the President's decision to allow limited oil exploration in new lease areas Howard Fineman made the following comment on Countdown:

The hasn't he almost got lost in it they held this very close keys at the White House this really was a surprise everybody around town because the administration knew they wanted to try to control the message to avoid the very problem that you're talking about what's of interest to me here's the frock Obama has prospered with big picture with big concepts for example on health care but the equivalent if this were the health care bill this would be like introducing the health care bill by saying you know what let's start by re decorating all the doctors offices mean this this is small ball for what is supposed to be another big picture plan here on energy that's why it's kinda puzzling.

First, Howard it is a great analogy, small ball and decorating the doctor's office. Its on point. Drilling isn't going to do much for energy independence. If that is all the President is going to do on the issue it is rather silly.

But small ball isn't silly now let me explain it to you.

Small ball, specifically the strategic use of bunts, steals, hit and run and lots of other devices is used in the Major Leagues for one reason; it wins games.

Now long ball fills up the stands and gets more media but the worst thing a baseball team can become is predictable.

Sometimes the President is Hank Aaron hitting fence clearing home runs and sometimes he bunts then steals seconds and scores on a Texas league fly. And both have the exact same weight in scoring. Each count for one run.

Now the game that we are playing is not drilling, or climate change. The game before us is breaking up the solidarity of the Republican Caucus in the Senate. If we don't do that then we can't get anything passed (and I for one think that passing a rules change for the Senate eliminating the filibuster is the highest priority).

We never had 60 Senators. We had 58 Senators that ran on Democratic tickets and defeated Republicans and we had two Senators that ran on non Democratic tickets and defeated Democratic candidates. And now we have 57. If the President can create issues that divide Republican Senators and cause them to fracture their near perfect solidarity then the President and Democratic Senators can work on and negotiate with a few Republican Senators on a bill by bill basis.

Excited about drilling? Of course not. Does the additional drilling in the Gulf bother me? Well it seems that Gulf drilling has worked well to date and drilling in the Gulf has special lease revenue for hurricane affected areas so it is a major revenue source for them. Far off the East Coast. Depends. If its not a lot of oil then it isn't worth the effort and if there is a lot of oil then they need to be perfect in execution. Drilling off of the norther Alaska coast is always a concern because it is a more fragile environment.

But it seems like transporting oil in tankers is much worse than any damage of drilling and we still use a lot of tankers.

In any case the need for systemic action on climate change is much much more important than adding some off shore drilling. If that is the trade off to get started on a world wide move on reducing CO2 then it is an exchange every environmentalist would take.

The key to getting anything done on climate change, immigration, or anything else is getting a few Republicans to break from the "no" to everything Republican caucus. So if the President has to bunt and steal second move to third on a hit and run and then score on a sacrifice fly, all small ball moves then it is 100% better than swinging for the fences on climate change and striking out every time, and right now the Republicans are well positioned to ride out years of inaction if the President isn't successful in wearing done Republican Senate solidarity.

So sometimes it makes sense to have Hank Aaron take a seat and have Maury Wills or Ricky Henderson go to bat the only think I care about is that the President get a package that is substantive in its totality that will start turning the tide on climate change.

Its just unfortunate that KO isn't more familiar with Major League Baseball or he would have understood that sometimes you play small ball to win games.

[emulatorloo]

1. interesting analysis, , ,thanks for putting it together n/t

[GoCubsGo]

2. That last sentence was a joke, wasn't it?

Am I missing something here?

[Uzybone]

3. It think it was sarcasm

KO is supposed to be outraged so he will "fail" to understand the small ball analogy. Sober, reasoned analysis doesn't play too well on cable "news" shows.

[grantcart]

4. It was mild ironic kidding - I think KO would have appreciated it.

And I think he would have appreciated the larger point that small ball isn't by itself a bad thing.

The only bad thing is if it doesn't lead us to CO2 reduction.

[GoCubsGo]

8. That's what I thought.

I have a hard time telling sometimes. The problem is usually me and not the OP. That's why I asked. :-)

[Bobbie Jo]

5. K&R

:kick:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. In 2000, manager Lou Pinella was disappointed in his team, the Mariners.

Every once in a blue moon, they'd call for a bunt, but it would go badly.

The next spring training, he had his men practice the bunt over and over and over.

That next season, the Seattle Mariners tied the record for the most wins in a season: 116:46

They won thanks to small ball. Not the steroid induced home run chases that the phony fair-weather fans enjoy, but small ball- singles, doubles, and good fielding. Oh, and the sacrifice bunts.

[TheKentuckian]

7. It's more small bore than small ball

The solutions aren't of the scope of the problems.