Republican attempts to blame Obama and Democrats for partisan gridlock are pure hypocrisy. It only takes one side to achieve gridlock.
In 2009, Senator Mitch McConnell declared his and the Republican party’s intention to “march in lockstep” and block everything Obama tried to do, so that Obama would be blamed for not getting anything done.
The stated top priority of many Republicans has been to thwart Obama (i.e. not, as it should be, to serve their country).
Those who questioned Bush’s (disastrous) decision to invade Iraq were vilified as “Bush haters” and “traitors.” The attempted impeachment of Clinton was completely partisan. The existence of MSNBC cannot be used as an excuse for partisan misconduct by Fox “News,” most obviously because Fox “News” came into existence first.
The Republican platform really has nothing to offer. The best Charles Krauthammer could suggest was tax reform? Most Democrats would love to enact real tax reform.
Moreover, the tax code is a mess because business lobbyists, those who bankroll the Republican party, want all those complicated tax breaks, subsidies, special rules and regulations that favor their businesses.
To get anything done in government, get the money out of politics. That means voting Democratic.
(Published in the Rockford (IL) Register Star (rrstar.com) on 10/26/14.)
Note: All this, that Republicans in Congress are more interested in thwarting Obama than doing what’s best for the country, is undoubtedly one reason Obama has not asked Congress to authorize military action against ISIL.
The actual Mitch McConnell quotation I paraphrased above is from a speech made at a Republican retreat held at the Library of Congress prior to Obama’s inauguration in 2009 where McConnell said: There are “still enough [Republicans in Congress] to block the Democratic agenda as long as [Republicans] march in lockstep. As long as Republicans refused to follow [Obama’s] lead, Americans would see partisan food fights and conclude that Obama had failed to produce change.” (Cited by Jon Stewart in the Daily Show 10/15/2104 segment “Democalypse 2104: Try not to say something stupid for 90 minutes”)
Charles Krauthammer’s 10/4/14 column, “Why winning the Senate matters,” is the one where he suggested tax reform as one of the few policy ideas Republicans have to offer.