I’m not one to recoil reflexively at all talk of bipartisanship. I know that some lip-service needs to paid to the illusive goal of getting both parties to come together to make compromises to solve problems. So, I understand why the president says stuff like this:
Citing the urgency to “accelerate this [economic] recovery,” Obama said: “But we won’t do it as one political party. We’ve got to do it as one people. And, in the coming weeks and months, I hope we can work together, Democrats and Republicans and independents alike, to make progress on these and other issues.”
The president mentioned a White House meeting next week with congressional leaders from both parties, a get-together delayed once and intended, he said, to yield “a real and honest discussion.” Thorny discussions await on matters including whether to permit Bush-era tax cuts to expire for the wealthy and consideration of the START nuclear treaty. Referring to the challenges of navigating the divide, Obama said, “I believe that if we stop talking at one another, and start talking with one another, we can get a lot done.”
I believe that if wishes were ponies we would all ride.
Now, I think the president has to make some concessions if he’s going to be able to govern effectively. He can’t just ignore the results of the midterm elections, nor can he pretend that the House of Representatives doesn’t exist. There are basically no areas of common agreement between John Boehner and anything the president campaigned on doing. So, if he wants progress in one area he’s going to have to accept regression in another. That’s politics, and that’s okay.
But, at a certain point you have to knock off the happy talk about how we can solve our problems if we just talk to each other. These idiots think you’re a Muslim who isn’t even an American citizen. They think you’re pushing some Leninist agenda. They’re cuckoo for cocoa puffs. And those who aren’t are perfectly content to pretend that they are. I am not saying you should accuse them all of doing six months in Chino for exposing themselves to eight year-olds, but it might not be the worst idea. The truth doesn’t matter anymore, and you’d probably be half-right with a bunch of these kooks.
I’m just sayin’, if John Boehner talks some smack, come back with, “eight-year olds, Dude.”
That would be some change I could believe in.
But, seriously…what needs to change is that the administration needs to stop pretending that the Republicans are acting in good faith, ever. They’re not. And the public needs to understand that, or the president is going to get blamed (again) for shit that is mainly the Republicans’ fault.
So, yeah, it’s all fine to play nice and pretend, but only as a set-up for bringing the hammer down later.
Finally, just because there is no record of John Boehner doing six months in Chino for showing his junk to an eight-year old doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Shit, have you seen the state of paperwork these days? Ask your bank if they can find your mortgage note. If these thugs can’t even prove that they own your house, how can you expect them to prove John Boehner isn’t a pederast? Just look at him, for chrissakes.
