Friday, August 5, 2011

Who's record would you rather be running on?

The political scene has been tough this last month. But we need to keep our eyes on the prize in terms of the big picture and what's happening. Getting distracted with intra-party feuds as the poutragers as so wont to do these days, is not productive. We've been through a hard slog and everyone is feeling weary. But as sige said here the other day, we ate our peas and the Republicans did not. According to the latest NYT/CBS News Poll, the public noticed. I especially appreciated this quote from that article:

“I’m real disappointed in Congress,” Ron Raggio, 54, a florist from Vicksburg, Miss., said in a follow-up interview. “They can’t sit down and agree about what’s best for America. It’s all politics.”

Compare that to what President Obama said in his press conference two weeks ago.

And for us not to be keeping those folks in mind every single day when we’re up here, for us to be more worried about what some funder says, or some talk radio show host says, or what some columnist says, or what pledge we signed back when we were trying to run, or worrying about having a primary fight -- for us to be thinking in those terms instead of thinking about those folks is inexcusable.

I mean, the American people are just desperate for folks who are willing to put aside politics just for a minute and try to get some stuff done.

So when Norah asked or somebody else asked why was I willing to go along with a deal that wasn’t optimal from my perspective, it was because even if I didn’t think the deal was perfect, at least it would show that this place is serious, that we’re willing to take on our responsibilities even when it’s tough, that we’re willing to step up even when the folks who helped get us elected may disagree.

And at some point, I think if you want to be a leader, then you got to lead.

Its becoming more and more obvious that Republicans aren't willing to lead. As Andrew Pavelyev at The Frum Forum (a Republican web site) asks, Who's running this party?

So how are they doing? Not very well. Sure, with much fanfare they passed quite a few high-profile resolutions – the Obamacare repeal, the Ryan Plan, two different versions of the debt ceiling increase coupled with some strict Cut, Cap and Balance requirement… but all these resolutions have absolutely no relation to governing the country. None of them were ever intended to serve as the basis of any actual legislation. They were all just political declarations expressing certain sentiments. House Republicans could have expressed them much more succinctly if instead they had just passed the following resolution on the first day: “It is a sense of the House that Obama is a bad, bad, bad, bad president and the Democrats are a bad, bad, bad, bad party.” They would have saved a lot of time on the legislative schedule. They also would have one more House seat now.

The actual governing record is dismal...

They have wasted inordinate amounts of time in arduous fights over the most trivial and inconsequential budget cuts in the current fiscal year. They have wasted a lot of time passing political statements masquerading as legislation. They will still spend who knows how much time passing the next year’s budget (incidentally, due already next month – not that it will be anywhere near ready by that time). And it is unlikely that anything substantive will be done during the presidential election campaign. All this means that the current Congress will probably end without a single legislative achievement to its name.

Yep, that about sums it up. So tell me, in a swing district, who's record would you rather be running on in 2012? The Democrats or the Republicans?

2 comments:

  1. Ms. Pants, I just clicked on Please Cut the Crap! from your blog roll. Wow! I have felt inadequate to begin challenging all the negative narratives about Obama, even though I disagree with them, but Milton lays out political realities so clearly, it makes me feel I can articulate those points. (You lay out political realities well, too, but in an almost lyrical way that's inspiring to read but hard to repeat. Milton is more, Point 1, 2, 3).

    I have mentioned before that I only really started paying attention to politics in 2008. I suspect that many people are like me, and that is part of the problem we have right now. Many people started to pay attention to politics for the first time in 2008 because of Obama--either out of enthusiasm because his election inspired them, or out of bigotry because his election scared them.

    But many of those people don't understand much about politics and the political process, and so they're reacting to things they don't understand. The left reacts to anything that seems like a concession to Republicans, or because they don't get everything they want as quickly as they want it. Milton has wisely pointed out, there are many short-term political maneuvers one must do to get to the long-term results that you want, so look at the results, or at least the direction that the results are heading, rather than yelling about the process. But I think a lot of people on the left don't know this.

    Meanwhile, the right reacts to many things that were accepted or uncontroversial under Republican administrations (e.g., debt ceilings, executive orders, policy czars), and while much of that is ginned up by people who want to foment opposition to Obama, I honestly think a lot of average people on the right fall for it because they don't realize these things are ordinary, because they never paid attention before.

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  2. Monala - Yes, Mitt over at PCTC has laid it all out beautifully. He doesn't seem to write often - but when he does, WOW!!!

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