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A comment I left on the Salt Lake City Tribune's endorsement of President Obama
This is a comment I left on the Salt Lake City Tribune's endorsement of President Obama:
markpkessinger
In the main, this is a terrific editorial. But must take serious issue with the following paragraph:
The only thing that stood in the way of bipartisan cooperation before, during and after the health care reform battle was the willful refusal by Republicans to cooperate with this President on any legislation at all, even when the President was proposing things Republicans themselves had long been on record as supporting.
It is beyond disingenuous to suggest that, if only the President had not insisted on pursuing health care reform, then a real possibility would have existed for bipartisan cooperation on other issues. The suggestion, by extension, that the President caused the extreme partisanship by his decision to press for health care legislation (legislation which was, I might add, modeled on a plan penned by the conservative Heritage Foundation), is either a delusion or it is dishonest. As has been revealed by Robert Draper in his new book, "Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives", the die was cast on January 20, 2009 for a strategy of total noncooperation by House and Senate Republicans with anything and everything President Obama attempted, in a five-hour meeting that took place in The Caucus Room (an upscale D.C. restaurant), even as President Obama stood on the steps of the Capitol building reciting the oath of office, where about 15 movers and shakers in the GOP (including House members Eric Cantor, Kevin McCarthy, Paul Ryan, Pete Sessions, Jeb Hensarling, Pete Hoekstra, and Dan Lungren, Senators Jim DeMint, Jon Kyi, Tom Coburn, John Ensign, and Bob Corker, as well as conservative pundit Fred Barnes, future candidate Newt Gingrich and right wing political strategist Frank Luntz. It was at that meeting that a plan was hatched for Republicans to present an absolutely united front in opposition to virtually anything and everything President Obama would try to do. Cynical though it certainly was, the logic behind the strategy was one that would have done Machiavelli proud: use every means possible to obstruct your opponent from being able to effectively govern, then vigorously castigate that same opponent for being unable to get much of anything.accomplished.
It is therefore an absurdity to suggest that the pursuit of health care reform was a "blunder," the consequence of which was an extremely polarized political climate, and that such polarization could have been avoided if only he had not so "blundered." Insisting, as President Obama did, on pursuing something that was much-needed, even though it might come at enormous political cost, was an act of courageous leadership that should have (at least in a rational universe) earned him a considerable measure of respect among voters, even if they continued to disagree with him on the specifics of that legislation. The GOP, by contrast, in pursuing an agenda of obstruction solely in the interest of political gain, demonstrated itself to be, collectively speaking, morally and ethically unfit to govern.
N.B.: I omitted from this comment, when I originally posted it, an additional item reported in Draper's book. It is a quote that Draper attributes to Newt Gingrich, which Draper writes was delivered at the close of that Inauguration Day, 2009 meeting:
I believe that quote buttresses the point I was making rather nicely!
(Edited by author 15 hours ago)
In the main, this is a terrific editorial. But must take serious issue with the following paragraph:
Obama’s most noteworthy achievement, passage of his signature Affordable Care Act, also proved, in its timing, his greatest blunder. The set of comprehensive health insurance reforms aimed at extending health care coverage to all Americans was signed 14 months into his term after a ferocious fight in Congress that sapped the new president’s political capital and destroyed any chance for bipartisan cooperation on the shredded economy..
The only thing that stood in the way of bipartisan cooperation before, during and after the health care reform battle was the willful refusal by Republicans to cooperate with this President on any legislation at all, even when the President was proposing things Republicans themselves had long been on record as supporting.
It is beyond disingenuous to suggest that, if only the President had not insisted on pursuing health care reform, then a real possibility would have existed for bipartisan cooperation on other issues. The suggestion, by extension, that the President caused the extreme partisanship by his decision to press for health care legislation (legislation which was, I might add, modeled on a plan penned by the conservative Heritage Foundation), is either a delusion or it is dishonest. As has been revealed by Robert Draper in his new book, "Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives", the die was cast on January 20, 2009 for a strategy of total noncooperation by House and Senate Republicans with anything and everything President Obama attempted, in a five-hour meeting that took place in The Caucus Room (an upscale D.C. restaurant), even as President Obama stood on the steps of the Capitol building reciting the oath of office, where about 15 movers and shakers in the GOP (including House members Eric Cantor, Kevin McCarthy, Paul Ryan, Pete Sessions, Jeb Hensarling, Pete Hoekstra, and Dan Lungren, Senators Jim DeMint, Jon Kyi, Tom Coburn, John Ensign, and Bob Corker, as well as conservative pundit Fred Barnes, future candidate Newt Gingrich and right wing political strategist Frank Luntz. It was at that meeting that a plan was hatched for Republicans to present an absolutely united front in opposition to virtually anything and everything President Obama would try to do. Cynical though it certainly was, the logic behind the strategy was one that would have done Machiavelli proud: use every means possible to obstruct your opponent from being able to effectively govern, then vigorously castigate that same opponent for being unable to get much of anything.accomplished.
It is therefore an absurdity to suggest that the pursuit of health care reform was a "blunder," the consequence of which was an extremely polarized political climate, and that such polarization could have been avoided if only he had not so "blundered." Insisting, as President Obama did, on pursuing something that was much-needed, even though it might come at enormous political cost, was an act of courageous leadership that should have (at least in a rational universe) earned him a considerable measure of respect among voters, even if they continued to disagree with him on the specifics of that legislation. The GOP, by contrast, in pursuing an agenda of obstruction solely in the interest of political gain, demonstrated itself to be, collectively speaking, morally and ethically unfit to govern.
N.B.: I omitted from this comment, when I originally posted it, an additional item reported in Draper's book. It is a quote that Draper attributes to Newt Gingrich, which Draper writes was delivered at the close of that Inauguration Day, 2009 meeting:
"You will remember this day. You'll remember this as the day the seeds of 2012 were sown."
I believe that quote buttresses the point I was making rather nicely!
(Edited by author 15 hours ago)
7 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
