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 GOP Tunnel VisionPosted on Sep 12, 2011Don’t fall for it. There’s no “new tone” coming from the Republican-controlled House. It’s just a remix of the same old song. Anyone who watched President Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress last week could have guessed that the GOP reaction would be muted. You could scan the chamber and read the contrasting facial expressions: Democrats tended to have wide eyes and broad smiles, while many Republicans winced as if suffering indigestion. It isn’t just that Obama made a forceful and compelling case for his $447 billion American Jobs Act. It’s also that while Republicans succeeded in damaging the president’s political standing with their debt-ceiling brinkmanship, they did more violence to their own. According to Gallup, the approval rating for Congress is down to a pathetic 13 percent. Moreover, worrisome new data have led even conservative economists to join the chorus for injecting some kind of new stimulus, and quickly, before we slump back into recession. The president didn’t utter the word “stimulus” Thursday night—apparently it’s unsuitable for polite company—but according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the first Obama stimulus saved or created up to 3.6 million jobs and may have shaved a full two percentage points off the unemployment rate. So the initial reaction from Republicans sounded almost conciliatory. “We believe creating long-term, sustainable jobs must be the top priority for elected leaders of both parties, and it is our desire to work with you to find common ground,” Speaker John Boehner and his House leadership team wrote in a letter to Obama. “While we have a different vision ... we believe your ideas merit consideration by the Congress.” Advertisement The Republican Party clearly has three priorities that outrank job creation: defeating President Obama, cutting taxes and reducing the size of government. The party’s “desire ... to find common ground” is nonexistent, as shown by its refusal, during the debt-ceiling fight, to accept a deal offering three dollars in spending cuts for every dollar of new revenue. GOP presidential candidates, who will be setting the party’s political tone, have pledged to reject even a 10-to-1 deal. Even the part about having a different vision is untrue, since the American Jobs Act consists mostly of GOP-friendly tax cuts. A more forthright response would have been: “Mr. President, we’ll get back to you once we come up with some new ways to reject ideas that we’ve supported in the past.” It was encouraging to see Obama keep the pressure on by following his speech with a visit to the University of Richmond, which happens to be in the district represented by Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the president’s most nettlesome antagonist in the House. And it was even more encouraging to hear Obama return to one phrase again and again: “Pass this bill.” He told the Richmond crowd, “If you want construction workers on the worksite, pass this bill. If you want teachers in the classroom, pass this bill. If you want small-business owners to hire new people, pass this bill.” OK, there might be a smidge of hyperbole there, but the important thing is that he said “this” bill, not some other bill. The GOP’s next move is entirely predictable: chop the American Jobs Act into little pieces, revise the parts they like to make them more consistent with ultraconservative values, pass those elements and reject the rest as not being “common ground.” We’ve seen this movie before. A senior White House official told me last week that this time is different. The official said Obama will continue to push for the whole enchilada—the tax cuts, the infrastructure bank, the targeted assistance for veterans and teachers, all of it. Such resolve, if Obama follows through, is music to the Democratic base and good news for the economy. The president has vowed to take his case to the American people, following up his stop in Cantor’s Virginia district with visits this week to Ohio—Boehner’s home state—and North Carolina. Might it be pure coincidence that there is an election in 14 months, or that Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina happen to be “purple” states Obama won in 2008 and hopes to capture again next year? Of course not. After all, another way to describe a swing state is “common ground.” Eugene Robinson’s email address is eugenerobinson(at)washpost.com.  TAGS:
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By Wishingforsanity, September 14, 2011 at 4:52 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Hello Dishfulthinking…Peace!
Report thisBy JDmysticDJ, September 14, 2011 at 3:17 pm Link to this comment
tropicgirl
You are something less than semi-human by my appraisal. I would classify you as semi-cretin, hang in there, I think you might be able to approach cretin status someday.
Report thisBy tropicgirl, September 14, 2011 at 1:07 pm Link to this comment
Gene, it may be the same old song, but the various songs that are being sung, from all different directions, are a hell of a lot more interesting than your same, same, same old song.
All the little pathetic babies on this site, that whine to no end, about political parties are just as stupid as rooting for a football team as if your life depended upon it. Grow the hell up.
ITS A GAME!!! The insiders from both parties have the same agenda. And if you don’t know that by now then keep your little baby whining going. Waaah Waah.
At least Eugene makes his money that way. The rest of you people have no excuse for your willful ignorance.
And let me say that electing Barak O-Stupid, a semi-black man, was OUR ACCOMPLISHMENT. Not his. It was accomplished by both Democrats and Republicans. NO ONE, not even racist Eugene, can take that away from anyone. So shut up about it.
What O-Moron did with that opportunity, since then, is criminal, pathetic, depraved and sickening. It is NOT our fault that he is a semi-human, globalist joke. We remain triumphant in electing the first semi-black man to the presidency. All Gene’s racists horses and all Gene’s racist men, can’t put racism back together again… Got that???
Now lets impeach, arrest, and kick him hard to the curb. And I mean hard.
Report thisBy christian96, September 14, 2011 at 10:56 am Link to this comment
I just posted the following comments after a Mother
Jones article about lies told by the Republician
candidates during the recent debate:
I grew up in a coal mining community, Grant Town, West Virginia, where my father worked
Report this40 years in the mines. Even though I have Master and Doctoral degrees and have taught at
various universities, I have been studying the Bible more than 30 years. In John 8:44 Jesus
tells us that the devil is the “father of lies.” Knowing this, what spirit is controlling the lies
told by the Republician candidates? I’ll give you a clue. IT AIN’T THE HOLY SPIRIT.
By Dishfulthinking, September 14, 2011 at 7:31 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
RE: Wishingforsanity, September 13 at 9:40 am Link to this comment
You wrote:
“What purpose does [?] is serve other than to dismantle any semblance of intelligence one may want to show by smearing fellow commentators? Must we give way to the basest of base rebuttals by indulging in the same attacks of each other that has been flaunted before us by the demise of real journalism and civil
debate in this country? Does it make anyone feel better to go back to the school yard and name call rather than thoughtfully comment on the article itself?”
=============================================================
Is the obvious hypocrisy of the above statement by you not evident to you? Are you not in a sense smearing fellow commentators, accusing them of the basest of base rebuttals, and are you not calling them name callers while associating them with juvenile school yard behavior?
I have no moral compunction about offering my opinions here. I will use ridicule, sarcasm, satire, humor, condemnation and anything short of mindless and crass vitriol when I believe it serves my argument and combats what I perceive to be harmful.
Report thisBy Traditional American Democrat, September 14, 2011 at 6:42 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
“This time is different.” That’s the pitch. The response from those who no longer
believe in Obama is that they are also having a hard time believing him period.
Obama is a Republican by inclination and philosophy; it is only by party affiliation
that Obama differs from the Republicans, and that is enough to make a fight.
With Obama gone, the Republicans will not have to wait days or weeks for the
President to roll over; the Republicans will be able to move a few weeks faster than
they can now.
The willingness of Obama to move aside (e.g. three extensions of the Bush-era tax
breaks for the wealthy, winks at the 15% tax rate for carried interest, agreement to
cuts in Social Security, etc.) and let the Republicans have their way is exactly why
Obama is tanking.
Obama is content to let the Republicans move forward, because he is essentially in
accord with their policies: extending/ expanding the wars, cutting Social Security
and Medicare, more cuts for corporations (with the highest profits in history and
more cash on hand than ever in history), hands off all bonuses (paid by tax payers
to ‘executives’ at failed financial institutions), etc etc.
Because these Republican positions and have been adopted by Obama, the
American voters look around and cannot find one single person in DC who will
stand up for them. Not even, the President who positioned himself as “Change You
Can Believe In”.
Perhaps, Obama believed a nominally Democratic president with Republican
inclinations could, in fact, bring an end to ‘partisan politics’ by simply agreeing
with the Republicans (“See, no more partisan politics!”).
But Obama failed to understand that Republican policies got us into the mess
we’re in and continuing has only made things worse.
Nevertheless, we will see more Obama/Republican policies until Obama is voted
out and the Republicans can bring in someone who is not only philosophically
Republican, but by party affiliation Republican, as well.
“Good bye Obama.” That seems to be a foregone conclusion.
So, what is the Democratic Party to do? Well, simply give up unless we have the
gumption to put forth a challenger to Obama in 2012. Since the Party is dead or,
at least, effectively comatose, it will have a great deal of difficulty coming back to
real life.
Having disregarded the middle class, passed an insurance industry subsidy then
tried to pass it off as ‘health care reform’, masterminded the non-reform of the
financial industry (leaving the six ‘too-big-too-fail’ banks bigger than ever,
winked at 15% tax on carried interest, turned away from limitation on bonuses
paid to CEOs of bankrupt financial institutions, extended Bush’s tax cuts for the
rich three (3, III) times, washed its hands of immigration reform, signed up for
Social Security cuts and Medicare cuts, failed to equalize the tax burden (instead
talked-up ‘simplification’, code for eliminating the middle class mortgage
deduction), etc., the Democratic Party will have great difficulty returning to their
historical position as promoter and defender of middle class values and middle
class issues.
Yes, it’s third party time for all of us who used to be Democrats (I even voted for
Obama in the primary and the general election).
We can no longer ‘waste’ our votes on the nominal Democrats. We have been
victims of a three-decade class warfare conducted by the corporations and the
elites; they have made great in roads: Fear-based ‘wars’, tax loop holes, unfair tax
rates, tax payer funded bailouts to belly up corporations, bankruptcy laws that
favor corporations and leave workers holding the bag, etc.
It’s time for us to begin actively working toward a political party and political
Report thisagenda that will re-balance the economic scales in this nation.
By Cliff Carson, September 13, 2011 at 5:57 pm Link to this comment
Robespierre115
Would you kindly take a moment or two and read WishingforSanity’s comment? Arguing the merits is the best of all possible outcomes.
And in that vein I must agree that Inherit The Wind certainly has put forth an excellent comment.
Report thisBy Payson, September 13, 2011 at 3:53 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
ssg13565: If you only count minorities as individual groups, then yes, a group
Report thisin isolation may be relatively small. However, Obama did not win the majority
of the white vote. When small groups of traditionally stay-at-home voters
banded together, it was enough to elect President Obama.
Of course middle class issues are vital. I fear, alas, that most self-identified
middle class Americans are actually working poor. I am a college graduate in
my twenties and work as a teacher for less than $30k per year. As I live in a
city and can afford nothing that isn’t essential, I hardly feel middle class. In the
U.S., the lawyer who earns $350,000 per year identifies as middle class as do
most people who have a full-time job, even if that job, like mine, pays under
$30k. There is a stigma in this country about being poor, so no one likes to
identify as anything other than middle class. At least I can be thankful that I
am a member of the working poor. Most of the kids I teach have it much worse
than I do. We teach our children that we live in a democracy and everyone is
equal, though I would find it difficult to find a student or colleague who thinks
they have a voice in this country. Instead, we are made to feel that if we aren’t
what is actually middle class there is something wrong with us. If we petition
for better facilities(luxuries like windows that aren’t broken or a gym without a
leaking roof), we are told that we are whining and teachers are part of the
problem.
By Marian Griffith, September 13, 2011 at 2:17 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
@ssg13565
—Any person who has ever happily sold a house or a used car understands that you need to give the buyer some negotiating room. The buyer expects it. Even if your offering price is what a buyer would find reasonable, the buyer will feel queasy if he or she cannot knock something off the asking price.—-
Funny thing though is that this same principle does not seem to apply to whenever the Republicans are ‘negotiating’
I certainly have not seen any giving and taking on their side during the disgraceful debt ceiling debate. The first option was flat out refused and it was made abundantly clear that they would not accept any compromise. Then when they got offered everything they had asked for and more, they -still- complained that the Democrats ‘were not giving them enough’.
The very first thing you need in negotiating a deal, is two parties that are willing to reach a deal. Right now one side of the give and take is not interested in a deal and thus can refuse to give and take what it can.
Report thisBy D.R. Zing, September 13, 2011 at 1:55 pm Link to this comment
Meh.
Compared to Mr. Robinson’s despicable articles tut-
tutting over Tiger Woods sinking holes off the
golf course, I like this one quite a lot.
I did find one bit of disinformation interesting—
interesting because even a Pulitzer Prize winning
commentator falls for lies over time.
Check this out:
“The Republican Party clearly has three priorities
that outrank job creation: defeating President Obama,
cutting taxes and reducing the size of government.”
Mr. Robinson, the Republican Party does not want to
cut the size of government. That lie started with
Ronald Reagan who increased the size of government.
If the Republicans were serious about cutting
the size of government, they would campaign on
massive cuts in military spending. They don’t.
What the Republican Party wants to do is balloon the
military and penal side of the government so that the
only things the federal government can afford are
wars and penitentiaries.
Other than that, great article, a tip of the hat to
you.
D.R. Zing
Report thisBy ssg13565, September 13, 2011 at 1:49 pm Link to this comment
Payson said: “Minorities, gays and the working poor will stay home”
Sadly the working poor tend to stay home anyway. Minorities don’t vote in big numbers and they are a minority. Gays, almost by definition are not high in numbers.
So Obama has to ask himself where are the large numbers of voters? The large numbers are the middle-class and those not far from them.
Obama, is not winning over the middle-class either. I don’t think Social Security cuts and Medicare cuts are winning issues for the middle-class. Retaining tax cuts and tax advantages for the rich will not win over the middle-class.
Jobs, jobs, jobs, and mortgage relief might be issues the middle class cares for. If these aren’t the top four items on his agenda, then he has a badly chosen agenda.
$1,000 tax cuts for the middle class whose mortgages are under water by 10s if not 100s of thousands of dollars seems pretty picayune.
Hiring workers in the private sector and keeping public sector teachers, police, and firefighters employed might help.
Buying up the the above water part of mortgages so that the middle-class isn’t trapped in their homes and can either sell them or refinance them at lower interest rates, should be close to the top of his agenda.
If he would just talk about jobs and mortgages, he could say, “Oh, by the way there are other parts of the plan, but there is no reason to lose focus by talking about them.”
Report thisBy Payson, September 13, 2011 at 12:42 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Obama’s poll numbers are terribly low because conservatives/tea party
Report thispeople/fundamentalist Christians hate him AND he has isolated progressives
and young people who were fired up during his campaign. The few democrats
who still support the president openly often say some variation of:
“Just wait. Obama is playing chess and the Republicans are playing checkers.”
Sadly, no. If Obama thinks he is playing chess he neither knows the rules of the
game nor has the correct pieces on the table. Success in politics requires the
skill of Washington gamesmanship that far exceeds the complexity of chess.
The G.O.P. knows this and their players are winning. They have been winning
for a long time. I have no doubt that Obama will lose in 2012, not because so
many conservatives hate him, but because he is not fighting for the people who
elected him. Minorities, gays and the working poor will stay home. You would
never know it from watching ANY “news” channel, but there are more Americans
who are suffering in silence than those screaming every night about socialism
and various myths about Obama. No one on the democratic side is fighting to
give a voice to the millions who WANT a jobs plan. You know the Tea Party has
one when there isn’t even an attempt to mask their intentions regarding Social
Security and Medicare. Even more appalling than that is the increasingly vocal
disdain for poor Americans. The Hannitys and Limbaughs of America who have
firm control over the microphone accuse the working poor of not paying
enough taxes, having it too good(75% of “poor” people have a refrigerator!!!)
and are “kept down” by programs that help them. Apart from Comedy Central,
who is calling out these horrible statements? Our president needs to fight like
the GOP. When they cry “class warfare” because billionaires may lose a tax
loophole, just play the numerous clips of conservatives waging ACTUAL class
warfare about hard working poor people. How do you hide a vast group of
millions of working poor? Deny them a voice.
By ssg13565, September 13, 2011 at 12:10 pm Link to this comment
The President again fails to understand the principles of negotiation. H e doesn’t understand the needs of the other side. For the Republicans to be happy with the deal, they need to say that they whittled down the plan in tough negotiations.
If Obama cuts his plan down to what the he thinks the Republicans want before he even starts negotiating, then he robs the Republicans of one of the things they need.
For once, Obama just needs to come out and ask for everything he wants (and then some). This will give the Republicans room to claim they were able to negotiate the plan down and yet still leave Obama with a plan that might be adequate.
Any person who has ever happily sold a house or a used car understands that you need to give the buyer some negotiating room. The buyer expects it. Even if your offering price is what a buyer would find reasonable, the buyer will feel queasy if he or she cannot knock something off the asking price.
Report thisBy Inherit The Wind, September 13, 2011 at 10:37 am Link to this comment
Felicity,
I’m sympathetic to your position, but being Caucasian naturally claiming empathy would be phony. But I am sympathetic.
However, Barack Obama is now President, which is unprecedented. Therefore he is now beyond that need to “go along to get along”. He is also in the position of the most powerful person on the planet. What he does affects all Americans, regardless of race.
And being President by definition means one is a target from opponents (usually the other party) and enemies (usually your own party). It comes with the job. Wise leadership is important, but it cannot happen without LEADERSHIP…and you cannot show leadership by appeasing and acquiescing to your opponents. As rotten a President as George W Bush was he was STILL able to get through much of his agenda (rotten as it was) by showing minimal leadership. In his case, it meant never backing down, sometimes to the point of irrationality.
Now I know that the racists HATE Obama for the twin “policies” of being Black and Democratic. Had he been White, I don’t believe there would be a Tea Party. Still, now that he IS President, he has to lead with strength, determination, and a refusal to do the WRONG thing even if it means he does NOTHING.
Had he made a condition of extending the tax cuts that the debt ceiling would be raised last winter, the recent crisis wouldn’t have happened. But he didn’t.
Had he REFUSED to agree to extending the tax cut unless it was NOT extended to those earning over a quarter of a million dollars per year, taxes would have gone up and….the deficit would be smaller and the debt ceiling wouldn’t be an issue at all.
But he didn’t.
He’s our President. Not our Black President. I judge him by his merits and his flaws, not his ancestry.
Report thisBy Wishingforsanity, September 13, 2011 at 9:40 am Link to this comment
I am going to say this on every comment thread on every article I read, here and
elsewhere on the net. What purpose does is serve other than to dismantle any
semblance of intelligence one may want to show by smearing fellow commentators?
Must we give way to the basest of base rebuttals by indulging in the same attacks of
each other that has been flaunted before us by the demise of real journalism and civil
debate in this country? Does it make anyone feel better to go back to the school yard
and name call rather than thoughtfully comment on the article itself? GROW UP
AMERICA. Please, in the name of decency, in the name of peace, in the pursuit of
higher understanding of one another. Please step off the 4-square court, enter
adulthood and find a peaceful way to state your case. Personal attacks need not be part
of any thread. Unfortunately the anonymity one bathes in on the Internet seems not only
to give one a false sense of righteousness, it also undermines our collective character
as a nation. What IS so funny ‘bout peace, love and understanding? Apparently
everything.
Now, go ahead, attack me with all the vitriol you can muster. But before you do, ask
yourself, “why and to what end?”
Peace to every single one of you, not one person excluded. Not one.
Report thisBy felicity, September 13, 2011 at 8:44 am Link to this comment
Can we assume that when members of the House are up for
election (re-election) only 13% of them will be re-
elected?
Will Obama ‘cave’ again? Probably. Having grown up
Report this‘black’ in America, and surviving, it’s a safe
assumption that ‘caving’ is synonymous with ‘surviving’
- if one has grown up black in America.
By JDmysticDJ, September 13, 2011 at 8:07 am Link to this comment
Inherit The Wind’s political acuity and observations are astute, while Robinson’s analysis of Republican motives and objectives is also politically astute in my opinion. Robespierre115’s crass comment is completely devoid of any political acuity and shows a complete lack of understanding or lack of concern for what is at stake in the next election.
Robespierre115 and his like show themselves to be nasty mean spirited nihilist thinkers who serve no goals and aspirations other than destruction; such strike me as being similar to artistic critics who seek to elevate themselves by criticizing the artistic endeavors of others. Such comments serve no constructive purpose.
Report thisBy Inherit The Wind, September 13, 2011 at 3:47 am Link to this comment
Each time Obama caves or “compromises” with the GOP they get bolder and more reckless. Combine that with sinking polls for Obama and they get bolder still.
In the spring of 1980, I found it inconceivable that the nation could possibly elect Ronald Reagan. I was wrong. Then in 2000 I found it inconceivable that the nation could possibly elect George W. Bush. I was right, but a Supreme Court stolen over 20 years robbed the American people of their rightfully elected President. In 2004, I was stunned that Bush was re-elected over Kerry…but that election may well have been stolen, too.
So as we approach 2012, I no longer can find it inconceivable that the nation can be so moronic as to elect Rick Perry, a corrupt traitor who endorsed secession. And Obama is making it easy for him.
Obama’s jobs plan is too little, too late, and when the GOP slashes it to shreds he won’t have the balls to veto it, but will cave again. It then won’t add any jobs, will add more tax cuts, but Wall Street will love it so it will be falsely claimed a “success”. And, unemployment will “stubbornly” remain where it is allowing the re-thugs to say “See? President Obama has failed to create jobs.”
And they’ll be right. But they will be right for the wrong reasons—because Obama always caves.
Report thisBy Robespierre115, September 13, 2011 at 2:32 am Link to this comment
Poor Eugene still clings to the idea that his god is somehow an FDR liberal deep down inside. What a joke. In terms of rhetoric Obama is back to campaign mode, in terms of policies his “jobs bill” will not stop the firing of teachers and other public workers, it will continue to outsource our future to private, corporate interests and will do little to make education more affordable or accessible. Go fuck yourself Eugene, I never get tired of saying it.
Report thisBy Lafayette, September 13, 2011 at 2:08 am Link to this comment
Had Obama used “Economic Viagra”, perhaps he would have got the attention or our Phallocentric Congressional Crazies? ;^)
Report this