Read David Brooks on the Farm Bill. And keep reading even after he begins to slam Obama and praise McCain. Frankly, McCain, in opposing this bill and agitating for a bottom-up reworking of it, exhibited much more political courage than either Obama or Clinton, both of whom bought into an inchoate porkfest. Obama's statement on the bill did include some gestures towards the legislation's myriad failings, but as a presidential candidate with a national spotlight, he could've slammed the thing and actually argued for a better bill, and with McCain doing much the same, Republicans couldn't have made him suffer for it. That's not to say there weren't reasons for activists and ovservers to reluctantly support passage -- as you can see in this comment thread at Grist, there were, as no one wants the 2002 bill extended -- but these bills will never get better unless national politicians speak out against the gross parochialism and interest group gridlock that produces them. McCain, Bush, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal all condemned the legislation. There's something to that breadth of opposition. A presidential veto with instructions to better the bill is the right move here, even if the Congress overturns that veto.
