Skip to main content

"Require a strategic ability that GOP leaders, particularly in the House, have yet to prove they have..."

Image
By
Democratic control of Congress, 2007-2010 (two years with Pres. Bush and two with Pres. Obama), was among the most productive in US history. As a staffer, it left me exhausted but with a tremendous feeling of accomplishment, like when a burst of energy lets you get through a 5-page list of household to-do items you've been putting off for months.

In contrast, the last four years of Republican control of the House, 2011-2014, have been like those days where you can't even buy bread -- just about the most basic act of adulthood -- without drama because your 4-year-old has taken off his shoes and is lying in the aisle screaming for candy.

Every single act of governing has been a struggle and a crisis, no matter how elemental or routine. I'm left feeling exhausted, but with nothing accomplished, because I've been forced to use up all of my energy just passing a straight funding bill, the household equivalent of putting on socks.

Will next Congress under a united Republican House and Senate be any better? For months I've been saying "Not a chance!" to anyone who will listen, and here comes Congressional Quarterly to back me up:

Successfully advancing their agenda will require a strategic ability that GOP leaders, particularly in the House, have yet to prove they have. And any missteps could doom their 2016 White House prospects. ...  Most Senate Republicans know that hard-line conservatives’ demands are unrealistic, but previously they’ve been able to blame Reid. If Republicans have the majority, that’s no longer an option.


Though it's been fun for Republicans to blame Harry Reid and Pres. Obama, the biggest struggles have not been Democrat v. Republican, but rather Republican v. Republican. I've watched in amusement/disgust/horror/now resignation as House Republicans couldn't even pass a transportation spending bill at their preferred level -- again, an act so simple it's like putting on socks.

Now they're going to try to write a budget that cuts even deeper than that level? No way. The next two years are not going to be a Republican fire quenched only by Pres. Obama. They are going to be a non-stop civil war. And two years from now? Democrats will once again control the Senate and the White House while Republicans retain the House... and we'll be right back where we are now.

I feel tired just writing about it.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Experience in jail

By
I was handcuffed at my home and driven to a processing station at the county “Justice Center.” Officers stood me against the wall and patted me down for contraband, checking my pockets, stripping off my socks, pulling out the insoles of my shoes.   Other officers emptied my bag and wallet of their belongings, took my ring and hairclip from me, and wrestled my tennis shoes free from their laces, putting everything they had collected into a sealed plastic bag. Occasionally they asked me about this or that they had found among my things: looking at my business cards, “Do you know anyone famous?”, or at the Kerry and Obama stickers that adorn my little makeshift Metro card case, “Are you a Democrat or a Republican? Because if you’re a Republican, I can take you to see the commissioner right away.” They were joking and generally amused. I was sobbing and shaking. This was the worst day of my life but just another work day in theirs, just another tawdry soap opera of thousands ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Tamir Rice and the man with no knife

By
Lately there’s been this drip-drip-drip of posts in my newsfeed that are — let’s be honest — rooted in racism. The slanted news articles, you know the ones. This one time a black person benefited at the expense of a white person, evidence of widespread “reverse racism!” Drip. This one black cop shot an unarmed white man but nobody cares because white people are discriminated against! Drip. A black person somewhere did something bad therefore it’s reasonable to fear all black people everywhere! Drip. Or the memes about black rioting. Drip. Or the absurdly emotional defenses of all police officer actions, even the ones that are demonstrably inexcusable. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. They aren’t posted by people who think of themselves as racists or who condone explicit racism, but they do reveal an inexcusable myopia about the biases we all have and a disturbing lack of empathy for people of color. Although I have never been one to unfriend people who disagree with my...
Post a Comment
Read more

"Is the GOP Healthcare Law a Good Replacement for Obamacare?"

By
I drafted this piece on behalf of our organization for publication in newspapers around the country. Check out a version in today's Sacramento Bee . The shortest answer to their prompt is simply: Hell no. Con: Millions lose health insurance to pay for tax The Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”) extended health insurance to 20 million people while closing loopholes in existing insurance for everyone. The GOP proposal would take health insurance away from 24 million people —and likely millions more —and re-open those loopholes. While it is marketed as an ACA repeal, the GOP proposal actually goes far beyond the ACA, attacking long-standing programs like Medicaid and long-standing health providers like Planned Parenthood. The bill does all of this in order to give the 400 wealthiest households in America an average tax cut of $7 million each . Doctors groups like the American Medical Association, seniors groups like the AARP, patient groups like the American Cancer Soci...
Post a Comment
Read more