Ok, so I don't know why I decided that I wanted to get flamed this morning, but this has been sticking in my craw for along time. I keep trying to watch Ed Schultz, I should be able to watch him, but he keeps bugging me.
Last night two of his statements and his over the top emotional presentation really crystallized what bothers me about his show.
Statement number one regarding the the health care bill and Obama's desire to get Repugs on board; "This isn't what we voted for!!! He is riling the base!!"
Statement number two regarding HC, the Congress and the Senate; "He needs to tell them what he wants, that's leadership! If you ask me, there has been too much legislating going on around here!!"
So what, pray tell, bothered me so much about these statements? What bothers me is that both exemplify how Bush got this formerly uninvolved voter into politics in the first place.
Ed is right, I didn't vote for Obama to end up with a watered down health care bill, and neither did you. But, guess what? We aren't the only folks who voted for Obama! Bush and Rove decided that the best way to stay in power was to excite the base because often the most passionate win the day. Therefore, they gave the rest of the country the middle finger. And yes, I know that the public option is popular with voters, but at the same time, the country does long for unity. Remember how Obama attracted attention in the first place? "There are no red states or blue states, there are the United States of America!!!" That, really, was his main promise, that he would try to work with everyone, and that he would listen to everyone. Well, guess what? I didn't want a politician in the WH with a play to the base strategy, I wanted a president again. Presidents represent all Americans, even those who vote against them.
And the second statement is just as bad, or worse. I got involved in politics mainly because I feared for democracy. What had been going on before wasn't great, it was often corrupted by special interests and was pretty messy, but at least there was some semblance to democracy about it. That whole checks and balances thing. If any of you watched the Ken Burns special on the National Parks, it was clear that this was nothing new in our history. And then Bush came along and everything changed, the Congress and Senate ceased to be independent bodies and simply gave him what ever he wanted, becoming rubber stamps instead of being co-equal branches of government. "If you ask me, there has been to much legislating going on!!!" WTF? Isn't that what they are supposed to do?
I don't know, maybe 9/11 did change everything. It seems that the view of the presidency has changed forever, from being one of the branches of the government to being a king. Every four years we have a big battle to elect the new king who can then do what ever he wants, until the other side gets pissed enough to get their king in there...who then will undo everything the last guy did.
That's not what I got involved in politics for. I didn't want a Democratic Bush, I wanted to get rid of that style of governing altogether.