You don't support the political process by supporting people like Sen. Ted Cruz who are intentionally vandalizing it.
Is the
Washington Post outsourcing its editorials to
Ron Fournier? A Tuesday editorial explains that while the
Post's editorial board really supports immigration reform,
it would be very sad if President Obama took action while congressional Republicans are busy having a temper tantrum because That's Not How Government Is Supposed To Work:
... behind the legislative disappointments of the past six years lies fault on both sides. The bigger point is this: In an era of fierce partisanship and close division, there will always be a temptation to postpone legislating until after the next election and to spend the intervening two years jockeying for political advantage. But a knockout blow will remain out of reach for both sides, and the price of postponement will be national decline. Many areas need federal attention and hold a possibility of bipartisan accord: building the nation’s infrastructure, protecting its cybernetworks and reforming its tax code, to name just three. It would not be rational for Republicans to spurn compromise in these areas just because Mr. Obama acts unilaterally in others; but it is entirely foreseeable.
Entirely foreseeable? Yeah, it's entirely foreseeable that Republicans will spurn compromise, and you don't need the "just because Mr. Obama acts unilaterally in others" part, either. Have these people not been paying any attention at all to Republicans for the past six years? If Obama succeeds at anything—including at preserving the economic health of the nation—Republicans see it as a political loss for themselves. Obama can't do anything
but act unilaterally, because Republicans will not do anything with him as a matter of stated principle. This is not some nefarious rumor. We know this.
On top of the determination to prevent Obama from being able to point to anything good that happened under him, even at the cost of the nation's economic health, many congressional Republicans do not want government to work under any circumstances. They want to break the government so they can then use its brokenness to persuade voters that government is all bad.
It's becoming clear that the bipartisanship fetish that Ron Fournier and David Brooks and the editors of the Post cling to so tightly is a way to blame Obama for everything without looking unfair, to place the clubbiness of insider political journalism above the needs of millions of immigrants facing deportation or millions of Americans needing health care. These pundits can't seriously claim to be protecting the political process when they have not just failed to condemn but are at this very moment supporting the Republicans who actively, intentionally broke that political process.