Meanwhile, across the aisle, there's a vivid example of how dissenters and unyielding partisans and people unafraid of disappointment can move the country in the direction they want to take it. The debt ceiling crisis is a scandal, but you have to politically admire the 2010 House freshmen who have caused the crisis.
That is scary apocalyptic thinking, to me, but it's also politically effective...
One thing that would strengthen his [Obama's] resolve might be Democrats to his left who won't vote for such a deal even if he says he backs it. Yes, they would be joining the GOP extremists in playing chicken with the debt ceiling, but it's worth playing that out for a while.
May I suggest that Ms. Walsh read the New York Times to learn that not only would her advice ramp up the lunacy that is currently gripping DC, but it actually results in the exact opposite outcome she envisions...it drives leadership to negotiate with the opposition.
At the Capitol, however, the emphasis was on a plan that Mr. McConnell has been putting together with the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, to empower Mr. Obama to raise the borrowing ceiling.
The four House leaders — Mr. Boehner, Mr. Cantor; Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader; and Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 Democrat — met Wednesday and, according to officials, reviewed problems with the McConnell plan.
Such talks between the two parties’ leaders in the House, which are rare given the polarized relations in that chamber, reflect the recognition that the Republican majority cannot pass the increase in the debt limit without a significant number of votes from Democrats.
Yes, the Tea Party lunatics are taking a fiery stand. I'm sure that feels good to their followers. But what is the outcome? Republican leadership is forced to negotiate with the Democrats to get a bill passed. That strategy Ms. Walsh admires so much has made the Tea Partiers irrelevant to the process.
So yes, we should sooooo follow their brilliant strategy...NOT!!!!!
Mo'nin', Ms. Pants
ReplyDeleteFirstly, congrats on the shout-out from BWD over at her joint yesterday.
This piece and the piece below...EXcellent jussst EXcellent.
I mean, who would think that you'd have to teach Joan Walsh? And, Ms. Walsh, at any point, sounds reMARKably like Ms. Dowd. And,( this is one of the few situations where I get kinda Freudian) BOTH of them (and a lot of others on the Left and Right) when they talk of PBO get all "phallicky" (which is an aspect of all of this hoo-ha that just does NOT escape me). Therein, they, to me, reveal MUCH more about themselves than anything that they tend to say re: their "disappointments" re: PBO (oooo, and I gotta include Bill Maher because he gets disappointed that PBO isn't "phallicky" enough, too).
CLEARly, I could go on for a while in this regard, but I won't.
But, I will paraphrase the late, great Jerry Rafferty who, at this point was part of: "Steeler's Wheel"....
'CLOWNS to the Left of him, JOKERS to the Right...'
As always, THANK YOU, Ms. Pants
PLEASE...
Carry On
Ohhhhh, I'd LOVE to hear more about the "pahllicky" nature of those folks!!!!! Please say more.
ReplyDeleteI broached that a bit differently the other day at the end of this one:
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2011/07/creating-symbols-and-our-response-to.html
In the end, I've felt for a long time that President Obama is our first "feminine" president. That kind of talk makes people very uncomfortable I think. So perhaps your approach is better.
And on the shootout from BWD - yeah, that was very cool. It seems a conversation has started - Extreme Liberal is picking it up from there.
http://www.angryblacklady.com/2011/07/21/president-obamas-rock-solid-base-and-why-pollsters-look-confused/
I don't think he's "feminine" as much as "feminist" in that he truely respects women and sees them as equals. It's an, I hesitate to use the word, evolved attitude we're not much used to seeing.
ReplyDeleteMs. Walsh seems to have a low opinion of progressives considering the reasons Koch funded teabagger tactics work for them, starting with ignorance, fear and racism.
ReplyDeleteI agree that President Obama is a grounded feminist.
ReplyDeleteBut that's not what I'm getting at. I've always struggled with using the word "feminine" because its so obviously attached to gender. But what I'm trying to say is that he rejects the patriarchal attachment to dominance and embraces partnership - which has typically been associated with the feminine.
So in a sense, he goes beyond respecting women to the point of embracing what has traditionally been a feminine definition of power.
I've thought for a while that Joan went off the tracks. The only thing I "admire" about the Tea Party was their ability to recruit and push their candidates through the Republican primaries. I have zero admiration for their unbending adherence to a very dangerous philosophy. Saying that liberals should adopt it is just asking for a completely dysfunctional government.
ReplyDeleteThe tea party was 40 years in the making: Republicans systematically built an infrastructure, un-educated their side of the populace (dis-educated? You get the idea), bought most of American media, set up think tanks that are low on thinking and big on pushing an agenda full of lies. They got there by consistently and reliably voting for Republicans. They saw everything as success, and pushed for more. They gave their leaders the room to do the best(?) job they could in a given political climate. Then they got their tea party wet dream.
ReplyDeleteYou can't start there. You have to work to get there. I only wish the Moral Majority had done to Ronald Reagan what the looney left is doing to Obama -- this brand of batshit crazy conservatism would have imploded. I only wish Pat Robertson had told conservatives to stay home and not vote unless Ronald Reagan obliterated Roe v. Wade in his first 100 days. I only wish......
" I only wish the Moral Majority had done to Ronald Reagan what the looney left is doing to Obama -- this brand of batshit crazy conservatism would have imploded.
ReplyDeleteI only wish Pat Robertson had told conservatives to stay home and not vote unless Ronald Reagan obliterated Roe v. Wade in his first 100 days. "
Yes, but if they were like the looney left, had Reagan reversed Roe vs Wade, the loons would then move on to something else to complain about or manufactured a new subject of outrage.
As bad as the GOP is, I never saw them attack a Republican the way the so-called "base" does to Obama. And then they have the nerve to wonder why the president is just not into them.