But in eschewing the strident partisanship that many on the left pine for, Obama is keeping faith with the people who elected him. He’s also maneuvering the Republicans into a position where they appear as dogmatic, lock-step partisans–and politically impotent to boot, since they can’t block a big stimulus bill from passing. And let’s face it: While the president has tried to foster a new spirit of comity and cooperation, the stimulus plans make very few concessions to GOP demands when you look at the big picture.
Some concessions are going to be necessary. But why give up territory before the battle is joined? And why puff up the opposition's "good ideas"? Just tell the public why their ideas are so bad!
The Republicans may look impotent, but do they really care? It’s not as if they think government can actually solve problems. Once they’ve cut taxes for their friends, they might as well go home.
The only thing that motivates the GOP is winning elections. On that score, they’re like Jason in the Friday the 13th movies. He does the same thing in every film, critics be damned. But the audience always knows what to expect, and sometimes they're in the mood for it.
Remember when Democrats were in the Bushian wilderness and Markos Moulitsas was screaming that we didn’t stand for anything? Not much has changed. The Republicans are looking to kick some wishy-washy Demcratic ass in the next movie, and the president is helping them write the script.
No comments:
Post a Comment