Obama vs McCain: Legislative Potential

[Beet]

I doubt the Democrats will be able to get a filibuster-proof majority. That said, Obama obviously faces fewer structural hurdles in working with Congress, whereas it is hard to see how McCain does not benefit from his years of experience in the Senate. With McCain, I see a mixed record with successes in areas where he and Congress are able to work in a bipartisan fashion, but these areas will necessarily be pretty limited. It would not be surprising if it eventually were a continuation of what we have seen in the past couple years. With Obama we would be more likely to see some swift, decisive changes passed, with the one caveat that it must be acceptable enough not to provoke a filibuster or Blue Dog defections.