Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) ripped both her Republican colleagues and GOP presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Donald Trump on Thursday, linking the party’s hesitance to accept a Supreme Court nominee with the infighting surrounding their presidential primaries…. “What’s the problem they’ve got with the two guys at the top right now — with Donald Trump and with Ted Cruz?” she explained to MSNBC host Rachel Maddow. “These are both people who basically deny the legitimacy of their opponents; they go on the attack. They demean millions of Americans, that’s what identifies them as extremists. Republicans in the Senate are breaking apart over this.”…. At the same time, Warren added, GOP senators have refused to proceed on not only the vacancy on the high court, but circuit court and district court judge vacancies, among other positions…. “All I can say is, that’s what constitutes extremism in the United States Senate,” she argued. “That’s what has nursed what’s going on now in the presidential primaries.”
Regardless of the side of the ideological fence you happen to call home, it would be difficult to imagine that any American who wants the best for their country would be happy with what’s happening in Washington these days. Political culture in our nation’s capitol has devolved into an extended game of “Mine’s bigger than yours!” It’s a game in which the goal isn’t to do what’s best for the country, but to advance a narrow, inflexible agenda regardless of the costs and impact done.
Little progress can be made these days because Republicans who control Congress hate The Black Guy in the White House © with every fiber of their beings. They consider him an illegitimate President, even though he was democratically elected and RE-elected. Republicans declared on Day One that they would do everything within their power to obstruct Barack Obama at every step and deny him anything even faintly redolent of a victory. They made it clear they would do nothing…and for more than seven years they’ve been true to their word.
Meanwhile, The Black Guy in the White House © is enjoying his highest approval ratings since 2013, with fully 50% of Americans approving of his performance as Chief Executive. Despite seven-plus years of Republican intransigence, it seems the American people appreciate what this President has accomplished in spite of the hurdles he’s faced.
Sen. Warren is spot on. We now have a political class elected by the American People who couldn’t care less about their constituents. They reject compromise, equating it with capitulation. They belittle ideological opponents, deeming them worthy only of destruction. In short, they’ve proven themselves completely unfit and wholly unqualified to the task (and honor) of serving in Congress.
Then again, studies have shown that while Americans hate Congress, they support their Senator or Representative…which explains why incompetence and hyper-partisan excess continues to be the coin of the realm.
Turns out we really DO get exactly the quality of leadership we deserve.
