Durbin: Obama 'dream come true' [View All]

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Durbin: Obama 'dream come true'
See what problem keeps the president "rolling around at night.''
Posted May 5, 2009 5:45 PM
The Swamp

by Rebecca Cole


Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) scored a political trifecta this year: His close friend Barack Obama is in the White House, he is a member of the Democratic leadership and the Obama administration's senior staff is comprised of old friends from Illinois.



"It's a political dream come true," Durbin today told a group of students from the Washington Center for Politics and Journalism.

Calling the challenges facing Obama "historic," Durbin said Obama "inherited a mess" but is up to the task.

"Look, we've had four headline issues and we've won them all," Durbin said, referring to the narrow passage of several bills, including billions in stimulus funding and Obama's $3.55-trillion budget. "But some were by the skin of their teeth."

In a wide-ranging discussion, Durbin expressed his views on several hot topics of the day, including Obama's impending appointment to replace Supreme Court Justice David Souter, Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's defection to the Democratic camp -- and he talked about what keeps Obama up at night.

snip//

On Specter's move to the Democratic side of the aisle:

So far, Durbin said, the jury still is out on the question of whether Specter can be counted on as a reliable vote or not. But, Durbin said, Specter "has to be supportive enough of Democratic issues to convince primary voters" in his home state.

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