As President Obama pointed out the other day in his face-to-face meeting with House Republicans, the Republican Party has left itself very little room to negotiate with him.
After a year of inflammatory, hate-filled rhetoric; after a year in which they continually warned, in the direst terms, that Obama's agenda spelled the ruination of America; after a year of stirring up dangerous passions among certain segments of the populous, they've left themselves no option other than to wade further into the political waters they have so bloodied.
Obama noted:
... if the way these issues are being presented by the Republicans is that this is some wild-eyed plot to impose huge government in every aspect of our lives, what happens is you guys then don't have a lot of room to negotiate with me.
I mean, the fact of the matter is, is that many of you, if you voted with the administration on something, are politically vulnerable in your own base, in your own party. You've given yourselves very little room to work in a bipartisan fashion because what you've been telling your constituents is, this guy is doing all kinds of crazy stuff that's going to destroy America.
In my real-life occupation, I have been immersed in the bloody, murderous world of Shakespeare's Macbeth.
One of my favorite passages from the play is the following:
I am in blood
Stepp'd in so far, that should I wade no more,
Returning were as tedious as go o'er.
Now, as tempting as it may be to equate the Republican leadership in Washington to one of Shakespeare's bloodiest tyrants, I don't intend to draw a direct comparison. But when I read Obama's comment to the House Republicans, it brought to mind the terrible predicament Macbeth creates for himself when, because of his "vaulting ambition," he chooses to murder the king.
The moment Macbeth takes this fateful step, he sets himself on the path of no return. He murders a second time in order to secure his place on the throne. And then a third.
He must either continue down this murderous path, or confess his crimes, give up the crown and face execution. There is no turning back.
The Republican Party has aligned itself with a movement that includes white supremacists, conspiracy theorists, religious fanatics, jingoistic "patriots," and people who are just plain nuts. After stirring up the absolute worst elements of the body politic by stoking fears of America's destruction, how do they turn around and start working with the same president they have so vilified?
How can they justify the rhetoric and the obstructionism of the past year if they suddenly decide to begin working with Obama? How can they maintain any credibility with their constituents if they are suddenly seen to be cooperating with him?
The short answer is they can't. There is no turning back. The Republicans have painted themselves into a corner, and if Obama and the Democrats have any guts at all, they will hammer them with this fact every day between now and November 2010. They must view every day as another opportunity to remind people of the abject failures of the Bush Administration and the unrelenting, pig-headed intransigence of the Republican Party.
The voters of Massachusetts allowed themselves to be persuaded that electing another Republican was the answer to the problems in Washington. David Brooks may wax poetic about the pragmatic wisdom of the American public, but he underestimates the credulity of a public that has shown itself all too easily conned, snowed and manipulated by a Republican attack machine willing to do or say anything that will cause President Obama to fail.
The past few months have made one thing clear: if the Republican Party had shown a shred of humility and class, or even if they had just stood with their arms crossed and said to President Obama, "Okay, smarty-pants, let's see what you can do;" if they had simply been willing to let Obama govern, we would all be better off right now.
A larger stimulus package would have given the economy the jolt it needed; health care reform would have passed last August and millions of people and small businesses would already be feeling its positive effects; financial reform legislation would have passed; the nations of the world might even have reached an agreement on climate change in Copenhagen had the President had the luxury of being more engaged in the process and less preoccupied with his own domestic agenda.
The Republican Party did not oppose Obama's policies on principle, or because they honestly believed his policices were "bad for America." They opposed him simply because they could not afford to let him succeed. An Obama success would represent a complete repudiation of the Republican ideology that nearly did wreck the country. An Obama success would further demonstrate - as if anyone needed further proof - that the Bush years were an utter catastrophe, the Republican tax-cutting, trickle-down ideology is a total fraud, and that it took a Democratic president to turn things around.
The Republicans could not afford to let this happen. So, in they waded, into the bloody waters of political warfare. And now they are in blood stepp'd in so far that, should they wade no more, returning were as politically untenable as go o'er.
This item from yesterday's Washington Post is probably just the tip of the approaching iceberg:
McCain appears to shift stance on 'don't ask, don't tell' policy
Since losing to Obama in the 2008 election, McCain has become a consistent critic of the president.
He also has, for the first time in years, a serious primary fight on his hands. J.D. Hayworth, a former Republican congressman, is considering a challenge, and Chris Simcox, a founder of the Minutemen anti-immigration group, has already said he wants McCain's job.
If the "original maverick" is so petrified of the insane hordes to his right and so readily willing to cater to their antediluvian views in order to get reelected, what does that tell you?
The Republicans have no plans to work with the Obama administration on anything. They will not turn back, they will not give in and they will not stop their vicious political warfare until Obama is out of office.
The Democrats have no choice but to be every bit as determined and ruthless. The difference is that they have the facts on their side. The same facts that got Obama elected in the first place.
Despite the utter nonsense from the pundits about Obama now "owning" the economy, President Obama and the Democrats should have no compunctions about reminding the public day after day who is responsible for the country's perilous economic circumstances. No Democrat anywhere should hesitate for a moment to put the failures of the Bush administration on lavish display, and place the responsibility for our nation's troubles exactly where it belongs.
Unlike the Republicans, however, the Democrats will require no hyperbole, invective, inflammatory rhetoric, fear-mongering or lies to make their case. The facts speak for themselves.
Right now lies are winning, facts are losing, and reason is under attack from all sides.
It's up to President Obama and the Democratic Party to grow some, as they say, and fight to get the facts through to the public. Only then will some semblance of reason and common-sense return to the workings of government.
For more from this writer, please visit: http://bareleft.blogspot.som