E. J. Dionne: Blaming Obama’s America First

[babylonsister]

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/blaming_obamas_america_first_20101128/

Blaming Obama’s America First

Posted on Nov 29, 2010

By E.J. Dionne, Jr.


Can we govern ourselves in the next two years? Do Republicans have any interest in accomplishments that might even indirectly benefit President Barack Obama?

These questions hang over this week’s meeting between the president and congressional leaders, an encounter that could set the tone for the next two years.

Grounds for optimism are thin. The most striking aspect of Republican behavior since the party’s electoral triumph is a haughty assumption that the voters rejected everything Obama represents and that he ought to capitulate on all fronts right now. Anyone who fails to see things this way just doesn’t “get” it.

snip//

I am afraid that we are about to enter a two-year period in which the Beltway Republicans will always blame Obama’s America first—you know, the America that is not the “real” America, the America that happens to disagree with much of the conservative agenda, the America from which they want to “take back” the country, as if the rest of us represent an alien force. If Obama and his America are for something, even if that something is in the nation’s interest, it will be rejected out of hand.

In her speech, Kirkpatrick also noted: “The American people know that it’s dangerous to blame ourselves for terrible problems that we did not cause.” Yes, and it’s also dangerous to blame a man and an administration for terrible problems they did not cause.

And what will Obama do about all this? Ronald Reagan, Kirkpatrick’s hero, found a way to stand strong, to fight back and to win. We will soon know whether our current president has this in him.

[oasis]

1. America's hidden plague: The phony patriotism of GOP leadership.

:puke:

[Kolesar]

2. Douchebag Jeane Kirkpatrick coined the phrase: “They always blame America first.”

...about Democrats.
Good editorial!