November 24, 2014 8:05 AM

We're not going to even bother with pretense; we're here to destroy this President

These are actors who can suspend disbelief and make crass artifice seem sincere. Currently, they are playing outraged defenders of the Constitution and disappointed champions of bipartisanship. Faced with President Obama’s imminent announcement that he is unilaterally freezing deportations of several million undocumented immigrants, Republican leaders are taking the stage to spout grand soliloquies of condemnation: The president is exercising power like an autocrat, undermining the republic and usurping the power of the legislative branch. Interspersed with the outraged orations, there are dewy-eyed pleas: Just work with us, Mr. Obama, just sit down and talk things over and we can solve the immigration problem together. It is a mark of their superb dramatic skills that Republicans can say these things and keep a straight face.

No reasonable person who’s been paying attention since January 20, 2009, could deny the calculus of the partisan gridlock that’s ground Congress to a halt. Republicans in Congress- Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) chief among them- said even before Barack Obama took the Oath of Office that they’d do everything they could to thwart him. Full credit to Republicans for being true to their word, because they’ve spent the past almost six years furiously refusing to hand the President anything that could even tangentially be defined as a victory. At the same time they’ve criticized the President for not working with them they’ve blocked him at every opportunity. They’ve criticized him for being aloof, though when he’s reached out he’s been roundly rejected. They’ve pilloried him for his unwillingness to compromise…but they’re definition of “compromise” is, “You’ll do what we want…or else.” Even when the President has attempted to move in the direction of those who despise him, he’s been rebuffed and the terms and conditions changed.

These are not the actions of statesmen working to do what’s best for their country. These are cynical hypocrites with no soul and even less honor, committed to a slash-and-burn ideology that can only destroy…because it doesn’t allow for building. They refuse to vote for legislation supported by the American people…and they claim that doing so honors the will of the America people. Of course, this makes sense when the only “American people” whose opinions you recognize are the 1%.

I don’t need to point out the party affiliation of these hypocrites…because there’s need to. It’s patently obvious that one party wishes for nothing more than to utterly destroy Barack Obama. If they have to burn down America to do it, they’ve demonstrated themselves perfectly willing to do so. They’ve shut the government down once, and despite McConnell’s post-midterm election promises, it looks as if they’re headed down that path again.

They rise above the reality that both Reagan and his successor, George H.W. Bush, issued executive orders on immigration that were quite similar in scope and effect to what Obama is proposing. In those instances, there were no Republicans rushing to the spotlight to declare the man in the White House a dictator and call for his impeachment.

And, as they express their eagerness for bipartisan compromise, there is nary a blush on the cheek of those who have spent six years opposing even the most uncontroversial idea emanating from the Oval Office. A casual member of the audience would never know these same people have been scheming against the Obama presidency with more determination than Brutus and Cassius showed in taking down Julius Caesar.

Given the intractable opposition he’s faced, what reasonable person could blame the President for deciding that the time had come to do what he can with the tools he has at his disposal? His immigration executive order came with a simple challenge he provided to his adversaries: If you don’t like the order, if you have what you think is a better idea, pass a bill. In other words, get off your asses and prove that you care about more than personally destroying this President. Show the American people that you can govern. Do. Your. Damned. Job.

[H]aving suffered through the shabby show of Democratic candidates running away from him during the just-completed election campaign, the president may not be in the mood to do them any favors. And he is understandably skeptical of pledges of comity coming from the same Republicans who made “Stop Obama” their singular goal from Day One.

Chiming in from the wings, Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal characterized Obama’s intransigence as a childish “temper tantrum.” But, if Obama’s cool demeanor qualifies as a tantrum, what do we make of a drama queen like Speaker Boehner who has angrily pledged to fight Obama “tooth and nail.” Boehner grimly warns that the president will ruin any chance of getting immigration legislation if he doesn’t back down. This is a gutsy performance from the man who could have gotten a truly bipartisan, Senate-passed immigration bill through the House and to the president’s desk at any moment in the last couple of years simply by allowing a vote - a vote that never happened because Boehner did not want to risk a riot among the anti-immigrant radicals in his caucus.

Jindal’s cheap personal insult shows how little respect Republicans have for this President. I was always taught to believe that even if you don’t respect the President, you should respect the office. This President, like all others (save for George W. Bush, but we all know what that’s about), was elected by a majority of voters who showed up on Election Day. The office represents ALL Americans, and it should be treated with respect. That Republicans respect nothing and no one outside those who line their campaign coffers has never been more evident.

Bobby Jindal couldn’t hold Barack Obama’s jock, nor could any other Republican in Washington these days. When you stand for nothing but obstruction, what do you have that’s worthy of respect? Truth is that Barack Obama did nothing that every President since Dwight Eisenhower didn’t do during their term in office. That he’s being pilloried for having “shredded the Constitution” is absurd as it is hypocritical and politically motivated. The Black Man in the White House © is totally out of control…except that he’s not. What Reagan and the Bushes did was reasonable and prudent; what Barack Obama did displays a treasonous disrespect for Congress and the will of the American people.

The fact is that Republicans care about only one thing: destroying Barack Obama. If they have to take the country down with him, that to them seems a price worth paying. In the meantime, nothing of value emerges from the halls of Congress…and those doing modern day imitations of Brutus and Cassius should be ashamed of themselves. Of course, that presumes they even possess the ability to feel shame.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on November 24, 2014 8:05 AM.

Republican intransigence and lack of compassion will kill more Americans than gun violence was the previous entry in this blog.

You know you're stoopid when: You have to be told not to pack an anti-tank weapon in your checked baggage is the next entry in this blog.

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