November 26, 2014 8:47 AM

If your only idea is to make sure the President fails, YOU'RE the problem

Thought for the week: For all the hating on Obama, we now have health insurance for millions who were not covered, a climate deal with China, an immigration plan that will keep millions of families together, and imminent detente with Iran. If only all Presidents could fail like that.

  • Andy Borowitz

No matter how hard I try, it’s difficult to wrap my head around the generalized Republican outrage and intractable opposition to anything President Obama tries to do. After spending six years working to thwart him at every turn, no reasonable person could blame him for using whatever tools he has at his disposal to accomplish something.

If this President was shown drinking a Diet Coke, Republicans would be indignant and demanding to know why he hates Diet Pepsi. Sometimes I wonder; if Barack Obama came out in favor of oxygen, would Republicans suffocate themselves? If Republicans are going to participate in the hard work of governing, if all they’re amenable to is bitching, moaning, and talking out their backside about impeachment, then why shouldn’t this President work around Congress? When the Republican definition of compromise is “do things our way or we’ll burn America down,” what hope is there for finding solutions? Good-faith solutions aren’t possible when one side refuses to bargain in good faith.

Time was when the Republican Party actually stood for something. Granted, what they stood for was more often than not wrong, but at least one knew what they were for. These days, Republicans will happily tell you what they oppose, but ask them what they support and for a plan for how they plan to achieve it…and they have nothing. If actions speak louder than words, and in politics they generally do, the things Republicans stand for are truly horrific:

  1. Tax breaks for the super-rich
  2. Taking health care away from the poor and middle class
  3. Keeping minorities and the poor away from the voting booth
  4. Keeping America in a permanent state of war
  5. Perpetuating ever-increasing income inequality
  6. Denying Americans a living wage by blocking an increase in the minimum wage
  7. Blocking funding for upgrading infrastructure
  8. Opposing net neutrality and turning control of the Internet over to Google and Comcast
  9. Building the Keystone XL pipeline, which will expose America to environmental risks far beyond any benefit generated by the 50 permanent jobs it will create
  10. Legislating out of existence the idea that women should control their own bodies and overturning Roe v. Wade
  11. Pinning Benghazi on the President by whatever means necessary
  12. Flogging the President for “abusing and violating the Constitution”

There’s more, but you get the idea. There’s nothing on that list that’s even remotely positive or constructive, that does anything to make America a better place and ease the burden on the poor and middle class. It’s a virtual Christmas list for the GOP’s wealthy benefactors, designed to line the pockets of the already rich, greedy, and corrupt.

With all of the issues in dire need of attention, Republicans have shown little to no interest in doing what needs to be done to make America better. They’ve voted against health care reform, increasing the minimum wage, and numerous other positive, proactive ideas. They’ve dissented not because they have alternatives, not because they have what they believe to be better ways to make America better. They’ve opposed virtually every proposal put forward by President Obama not because they have better ideas, but because they’re loathe to hand him anything even faintly smacking of a victory.

Think about that for a moment. One of our two major political parties is dedicated, almost to a person, to working to ensure that this President fails. Republicans don’t want to stop the President, they want to destroy him. I can only conclude from this that they’re evil, stupid, corrupt, racist, and/or anti-American…because what true American wants their President to fail? If you want your President to fail, you want your country to fail. If you’re that thoroughly and rigidly ideological, you have more problems than you know.

The question of how good Barack Obama has been as a President is something best left for historians, not narrow-minded ideologues who believe those who don’t think as they do are godless Communists and terrorist sympathizers. From my vantage point, I think he’s done a pretty damned good job given the obstacles placed in his way by Republicans in Congress determined to see him fail.

No, Barack Obama has not done all the things the Left wanted him to do. Given the opposition he’s faced, it’s a wonder he’s been able to accomplish anything at all.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on November 26, 2014 8:47 AM.

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