Since the election just took place a few days ago, the Republicans are just coming to terms with their loss. It can’t be easy for them to accept losing power after pretty much having control of Congress from 1994 to 2006, and now again losing control of Congress as well as the Presidency. Though the people have sent a clear message--both in 2006 and 2008 that they have had enough of the Republican brand of incompetence, malfeasance and divisiveness, they are still refusing to heed the message— "GOP is Split Over Fighting Obama’s every Move: (emphasis mine)
"Only days after losing the White House and suffering large defeats in both houses of Congress, the Republican Party is striking a posture of defiance.
"Within the past 48 hours, the RNC has sent out memos blasting the president elect for appointing Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff and hiring David Axelrod to serve an advisory role..."
there's more:
"Within the past 48 hours, the RNC has sent out memos blasting the president elect for appointing Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff and hiring David Axelrod to serve an advisory role..."
"...Not everyone within the GOP has shared the fight-them-at-every-corner mentality. Craig Shirley, a conservative consultant, argued that the party needed "to start getting about the task of what they are for," and said of the RNC memos, "You got to pick your fights. It is almost like the RNC is in desperate need of adult supervision..."
While President-Elect Obama (I just love saying that) has spoken of the necessity of bipartisanship cooperation throughout his Campaign, and has re-emphasized it since his election, the Republicans have continued to ignore the call to put down the long knives and cooperate with their Democratic colleagues for the good of the country.
The reaction of many Republican politicos and pundits has been that Obama must "move to the center". Well, he’s been pledging to "unite" the country, during his campaign and even during his post-election speech in Grant Park. Senator Feinstein said of Obama’s references to Lincoln in his speech:
"The swearing-in ceremony continues to symbolize the ideals of renewal, continuity, and unity that he so often expressed," she said, adding that "at a time when our country faces major challenges at home and abroad, it is appropriate to revisit the words of President Lincoln, who strived to bring the nation together by appealing to 'the better angels of our nature'."
Unlike the belligerent GOP'ers, Obama has continually spoken of "unity" and the need for cooperation between the politicians in order to move the country forward. Yet, the Republicans continue to act like spoiled children who didn’t get their way. Instead of admitting that their own failed policies and their politics of divisiveness led to their losses in the last two elections, they stubbornly refuse to acknowledge any failures on their own part. They refuse to examine where they went wrong.
Instead, Republicans like Boehner can’t pass up every chance to lash out at the Democrats in general and now Obama in particular. Media parrots, like Tapper won’t pass up the opportunity to assist the Boehner and the Republicans in their scorched earth retreat to the minority. The cable news pundits have been continually repeating the GOP talking point that "Obama must move to the center". Oddly, the pundits never ask their endless stream of Republican guests when and how the Republicans are going to put their divisive partisanship aside and move to the center themselves.
The Republicans and the media refuse to acknowledge that November 4 sent a clear message: That the people are rejecting the Republican way of doing business.
That means the loser needs to move toward the agenda of the winner in order to satisfy the mandate of the people. Where was the media over the last eight plus years? Why weren’t they calling on Republicans to be "bipartisan" or to move toward the "center"? Bipartisanship takes two sides sincerely working together for the good of the country. So far, the Republicans are still obviously much more concerned about the survival of their Party than they are about the survival of their country.