Fever Pitch!
Political gridlock remains prevalent in Republican controlled House.
By William C Walker Jr.
September 20, 2013
"I
believe that if we're successful in this election, when we're successful in
this election, that the fever may break, because there's a tradition in the
Republican Party of more common sense than that. My hope, my expectation, is
that after the election, now that it turns out that the goal of beating Obama
doesn't make much sense because I'm not running again, that we can start
getting some cooperation again," - President Barack Obama
The
above quote was from President Obama during a campaign stop in Minnesota.
It seemed like a reasonable
expectation from a very reasonable man.
Yet something the President hasn’t realized is that he’s not dealing
with reasonable people. He’s dealing
with a political party that proudly rebuffs the old adage “don’t cut off your
nose to spite your face”. House
republicans would take a hatchet to their nose if means opposing the
President. In their latest efforts the
house is set to pass a bill that would defund the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a.
Obamacare) in order to raise the debt ceiling and prevent a government
shutdown. They’re attempting this even
in spite of the fact all of their attempts to do so have failed miserably. According to Thinkprogress.org house
Republicans have voted over 7,000 times to repeal or defund Obamacare, and it’s
gone absolutely nowhere. Even after the
Supreme Court deemed the law constitutional which was republicans best chance
to actually have the law stricken down, they continue to pursue this fruitless
endeavor. Let’s just keep in mind any
bill that passes in the house than has to be taken up by the senate, once it
gets through the senate, it then has to be signed by the President into
law. So once this said bill passes it
has to actually be passed by the Senate which is firmly in the democrats
control, but let’s say miracle of miracles happen and they actually get the 60
votes needed to pass, then it would require the President to sign it instead of
vetoing the bill. As of now President
Obama has already said he would veto any bill that would disrupt the Affordable
Care Act. So why do Republicans insist
on taking this course? Simple they truly
hate the President, in a Captain Ahab & Moby Dick way. Like Dallas Cowboys & Washington Redskins.
They are firmly entrenched in this feverish delirium to
oppose the President no matter what. It’s
not like this has truly worked in their favor currently Congress’s approval
rating sits at 19%. The Romneybot of 2012 was soundly defeated, the senate
remains in democrats hands, and the only reason the Republicans kept hold to
the house, was due to gerrymandering that changed congressional district to
skew in republican favor. So what
happened to the common sense republicans that the President hoped would step up
after the election? That would be if
there were any common sense republicans left.
But this disdain and opposition goes far beyond political ideology, and
rest squarely on the man they face.
The reality is that President Barack
Obama is a Harvard Law scholar, extremely eloquent and charismatic leader, and
most importantly the first African American to hold the country’s highest
office. It’s that last point that sadly
stokes republicans fire to the highest degree.
No President has faced the sheer level of disrespect President Obama has
had to deal with. For as much as
democrats and liberals may have disliked President George W. Bush, you never
saw anyone shout in the midst of State of the Union “You Lie”. And this was in the midst of him trying to
sell us on Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. Or someone threateningly poke their finger into a President's face, like Arizona Governor Jan Brewer.
Yet it’s been done to the President, I firmly believe that when
republicans and those in the Tea Party especially see the President Obama they
don’t see this very intelligent man.
They see this uppidity negro that
thinks he can tell us how to run our country.
I say it goes beyond ideology because it doesn’t matter the
plan if it’s presented by the President than it’s automatically bad. I go back to when the President was first
elected after the 2008 election and before the new school year started the
President was supposed to address returning students. The level of outrage that swelled from
conservative and right-wing parents would have you think the man was giving out
a public service announcement urging kids to smoke crack, look up to Lil Wayne, and have kids by age 11. It’s the President of The
United States encouraging kids to work hard in school, not Osama Bin Laden’s greatest hits. It dawned on me at that moment that these
people really hate this man. I mean
Obama could come out and say don’t murder people it’s wrong, and I swear
republicans will scream “Who’s he to tell me I can’t murder! I’ll murder who I want o this is America I
can kill whoever I please!” I swear that’s
how deep I think their insanity would go.
The Affordable Care Act was a republican idea! It’s based on the law passed in Massachusetts
by then republican governor Mitt Romney.
The Massachusetts law was also based on idea from Senator Bob Dole back
in the 90s, the whole point to get people to actually be accountable for their healthcare
cost. Instead of having uninsured people
flood emergency rooms getting bills they wouldn’t be able to pay, thus sticking
the bill to those who actually have insurance paying higher premiums. Yet Obama presents the plan and it’s the
spawn of Satan. Regardless the cause if
the President is for it than republicans has to be automatically against
it. Case in point when 90% of the
country would agree with some form of gun control, be it Universal background
checks, or ban on assault weapons after the tragedy in Newton, Connecticut they
fail to move. There's been 17 more mass shootings in this country since the tragedy in Newton. A US study commissioned by Mayor's Against Illegal Guns shows that there's been an average of 1 mass shooting per month since 2009. Yes we all know the republican
party lives in the NRA’s back pocket, but it doesn’t help when the
President is the one asking them to do so.
It doesn’t matter if he has the majority of the country agreeing with
him. Take the ongoing crisis in Syria,
chemical weapons are used to killed women and children, the President declares
a line has been crossed and that America needs to act. Yet when he defers to congress to give him
authorization to proceed with military action, suddenly congressional
republicans balk stating we need to listen to the American people noting how
majority of Americans oppose any involvement in Syria. So on guns who cares what the American people
think, yet in regards to Syria we need to listen. Guess it only matters depending on which side
Obama falls on.
I bring all this up, because I truly hope we all keep this
in mind as the 2014 election approaches.
Typically enthusiasm to get out and vote is low in the first place, even
more so during mid-term elections. But it was this lack of awareness during the
2010 elections that allowed Republicans to rally their base and beat democrats
at the polls. Remember the ever growing obstructionist
effort that’s being perpetrated as we speak.
Remember the Voting id laws that were passed by Republican governors in
an effort to alienate minorities right to vote.
Remember the Supreme Court striking down key provisions in the Voting
rights act making these bogus voting laws possible of getting through. Remember Trayvon Martin and others that could fall victim to Stand Your Ground laws in republican controlled states. Finally remember that if we don’t act the
President will face this mind-numbing insanity house republicans continue
produce. Typically if someone has a fever
Tylenol or Aspirin is used to help break that fever. The results of the 2012 election failed to do
so, so come 2014 let’s be the Tylenol the President so desperately needs.
Quote above pulled
from Politico 44 entry
By Bryan Tau
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