Change. That’s what got President Obama elected. One big promise in the campaign was to reach across the aisle and mitigate the partisan politics. The public was very, very tired of the infighting. Any plan to see this done would be welcome.
What steps has President Obama taken to fulfil this promise?
The first big step was to cram the Stimulus Bill down the throats of congress. No time to read the bill, just vote. Obama didn’t read it either. Gee, it was only $700 billion, why bother? He did go up to the Hill and remind the dissenters “I won.” End of conversation. That all did a lot to heal the wounds of partisan politics.
Then he took his campaign show on the road. Everywhere he went he blamed America in general and Bush in particular for everything that’s wrong all over the globe. That seemed to help his opponents feel better about how well he wanted to reach across the aisle. It also made a lot of Americans who love our country feel good about Obama.
Napolitano issued a policy release to all police departments that warned them to watch all veterans and virtually all Republicans as potential recruits for Far Right Radical groups that might be planning violence.
Then, to help his plan along he released the torture documents from the Bush administration. And, threatened trials for those involved. This has really endeared him to all Republicans, the CIA, the military, and all those involved with protecting our backs.
Now, he asked the Democratic leaders of the senate to use budget reconciliation to push his health care plan through with a simple 51 majority. This fast track system is not only polarizing but pretty damned unethical. Democrats say they will pass this without a single Republican vote.
So, how do we grade him on reaching across the aisle. I give him an A plus for reaching across and making sure everyone on the other side will do everything they can do to make his term as miserable as possible. There will be a time when he can’t get it done with only Democrats and he will get absolutely zero help because of his own conduct. Trust, once destroyed is hard to repair. A man with a big ego does very little repair work. That’s above him.
Maybe he can get Raul Castro or Hugo Chavez to vote for his bills in two years.
