During the 2008 presidential campaign, it was evident that Barack Obama had read Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book about Abraham Lincoln, “Team of Rivals.”
Unlike my friend Frodo, I make no comparison of Lincoln and Obama, save for the fact that I believe each was a man for his time. Like Lincoln, though, and unlike George W. Bush, President Obama desired to be president of all Americans.
Toward that end he has made every effort to quell the rabid partisanship gridlocking this nation today and to work “across the aisle” with Republicans.
My feelings about his efforts to do so have run the gamut from “Hallelujah!” to “Who gives a damn?”
Arizona wants more National Guard troops to control our border with Mexico. Obama sends 1,200. Immediately, Sen. John McCain of that state says, “1,200 is not enough. We need 3,000.” If Obama had deployed 3,000, McCain would have called for 6,000.
In his continuing effort to work with them, Obama met in a closed-door session with Senate Republicans yesterday. He sought bipartisan cooperation on issues such as the economy, climate change, nuclear arms reduction and immigration reform The White House reported the meeting was “productive.”
Apparently Sen. Bob Corker, still wet behind the ears from his Tennessee victory over former Congressman Harold Ford, Jr., didn’t think so, telling CNN’s Dana Bash “that he accused the president during the meeting of taking an excessively partisan approach to critical issues such as financial reform, and then having the ‘audacity’ to come to the Senate GOP conference and use the Republicans as election year ‘props.’"
I’m hearing the echo of “You lie!”
Corker seemed pretty proud of insulting POTUS face-to-face: "I said I realize we are props in this meeting and asked how do you reconcile that duplicity? It obviously hit a nerve. For the president to come in and for us not to have a frank conversation is a wasted opportunity."
I will try really hard not to dip into hyperbole and fiery rhetoric – or curse words. I just don’t believe in my heart of hearts that the good people I know who vote Republican fully realize what that Party has become.
As my friend Sue would say on her blog: Helloooo, Mr. Presidnt, are you listening?
Sir, I am very tempted to say to you, “No more Mr. Nice Guy,” but I don’t think any good was ever attained sacrificing integrity and honesty by assuming the posture of an enemy.
And, like it or not, the Republican Party is becoming an enemy of the state. Hasrsh words, but how else can one define a Party which has put partisan politics above the good of the nation?
I went back to DemWit’s post the morning after your election, Mr. President, and all who commented expressed hope that this country can find unity in diversity.
Many of us still feel that way.
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demwit
Chronicling the absurd, the obnoxious, the outright lies, the occasional truths and the downright mystical out of the mouths of politicians and pundits.
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8 comments:
Most people would love 'unity in diversity'. But as America gets more diverse, the harder it seems to become so, unified. The goal posts keep changing.
I think the fact that the president is black, and the first black, is a real game changer. This is a diversity that many on the other side still have to digest and come to terms with.
Ah yes. Corker the Dork - trying to get a pat on the head from McConnell. His remarks are just plain insulting and ignorant.
Obama has indeed tried, to no avail. I think he's realized by now that all they are interested in is obstruction and that trying to get their cooperation, except for a few who are moderate on certain issues (like Scott Brown) is a waste of time.
If this meeting had any value, it was to remind him of that.
I love this post BJ!!! I don't think that the average person that considers themselves a Republican really knows what the people they vote for actually do for them which is nothing. Great for people making six and seven figure incomes but screw you if you are a middle or low class working idiot.
The GOP agenda is to vote no on anything the democrats come up with even if they agree with it. Stupid
BJ, I think most of us who supported Obama for President have gone through the “Hallelujah!” to “Who gives a damn?” scenario. We just want Obama to go ahead and do what needs to be done and let the Rethuglicians stew in their own juice, so to speak.
Too, the Democrats should have gone ahead and passed bills while they had the majority in all three houses. But we can't turn back the pages, so from now on it's going have to be "full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes." The more they get done in the next five months, the better chance of getting and/or keeping enough seats to do what is best for the welfare and well being of the masses of the people. No amount of talking until you're blue in the face is going to convince those who made up their mind to never agree with anything Obama says or does.
Another thing the people are going to have to do is band together and demand "truth in reporting" and put an end to the BS the likes of Faux Noise spews into the atmosphere which pollutes the environment just as much as the oil spewing in the Gulf. There's always a time when little unruly tykes have to be disciplined. There will never be a better time than the present for the mature people to step forth and do this very thing. Otherwise, they are going to continue to spread terrorism in this country.
I venture to say that none of us heard the Main Stream Media talking about and raising hell about the firebombing of the Muslim Mosque in Jacksonville, FL while Muslims were in there for prayer. This is no different than the firebombings, which killed little children, of the churches in Alabama during the Civil Rights Movement. Had it been a firebombing of a Catholic or Protestant church, we would be hearing about it 24/7, blaming the Muslims just as they did when the Oklahoma bombing transpired.
The time is NOW for all good men and women to come to the aid of their country and their country's people. Let us focus on doing that instead of getting side tracked by the obstacles the obstructionists throw in our pathway. In time, good always trumps evil.
I received the following email from a talented and successful blogger, who chose to leave the blogosphere after coming under constant vicious attacks from right-wingers. While the blogger did not wish to comment on DemWit, I am using the following email with permission:
BJ - I sadly agree in many respects. I think their policies and political principles harm this nation, or at least its people. If allowed to develop too far, the destruction they sow would stretch beyond the Gulf of Mexico. It would lead to both societal and environmental degradation on a scale I don't like to imagine.
I see their “libertarian” freedoms as dangerous to our society, and, therefore, a de facto enemy as you put it. I'm sorry, but based on their record and desire to destroy good governance (or to shrink our government and render it harmless), they should not be allowed to govern or lead us any longer. They need to be kept a minority. Unfortunately, I don't have faith that the American electorate will keep it that way. It's all very sad.
I also don't wish to debate them on issues like this any longer. I look back at my one year in the world of political blogging as a regrettable experience - they were mostly belligerent (especially when you quoted real facts). I admire your desire to engage them, but I find most of them single-minded, unempathetic and unsympathetic to their fellow man, and the whole excercise futile. :)
Every once in a while, Frodo tests the synapses by reciting the Gettysburg Address. He does so simply because he cannot imagine the suffering that took place in the heart and mind of such a good man. Those words remind Frodo that divisions will always exist and that fights will have to be fought.
God, how they must have hated Lincoln. But, again and again, he reached out. He had to have known that they would do everything possible to undo his hard work.
That, dear Merry, is what Frodo first saw in the skinny kid with the funny name.
Undaunted, we be.
I continue to hear optimistic things from both Democrats and all three of the Moderate Republicans still standing to the effect that the mid-term elections will put a stopper in the Libertarian/Tea Party cant. I am in awe of that optimism; I can't find a basis for it. I so wish I could.
When I read something by a blogger who has managed to dig down and locate a little cul-de-sac of snark in themselves, I can sometimes rally briefly. Perhaps we liberals are more philosophers than political animals. Snark 'em if you've got 'em, gentlemen.
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