Republicans – you gotta hand it to them. If at first they don’t succeed, then do it again louder and more obnoxiously. But the amount and level of "tone deafness" and the head smacking lunacy of this strategy that most Congressional republicans, the right wing noise machine and their enablers have come up with is, frankly, stunning.
With respect to the jobs bill (because that sounds much better than stimulus package – warts and all), it doesn’t matter if 4 million, 3 million or 2 million jobs are created/saved. With respect to health care or the financial crisis, it doesn’t matter if there is shrieking of "socialization" or "nationalization". With respect to disingenuous cries of "he’s not being bipartisan enough" – it doesn’t matter what these blowhards are saying, how hard they stomp their feet or how long they hold their breath.
It has been a short but very painful couple of months since the election – an election where the failed republican party and its’ ideas have been crushed for the second straight time. Democrats may not have been trusted much, but the republican party, its brand and its ideas were not trusted at all. And nothing has changed in terms of most Americans’ views, other than people becoming relatively impressed overall with the seriousness and thoughtfulness that the Obama team has handled the disaster it inherited. A disaster that Americans know was caused by Bush and the republican party, many of whom are the same obstructionist and obstinate fools who were in the last Congress and are still in the current one.
They won’t stop obstructing. As Senator Boxer said to Rachel Maddow last night, Democrats in the Senate are forced to pull things out of this jobs bill that they would otherwise not want to because the Senate republicans are making them get 60 votes for everything, regardless of whether it is (my words) just for the sake of being assholes. They will continue to do this, as this is the path they have chosen. Boehner says that the republican party needs to sell itself more than it should actually be involved in policy. Rush Limbaugh wants Obama, and by extension the American people, to fail – and Congressional republicans line up to kiss his ass. They see hope for their own fortunes if this jobs bill fails.
The problem here, other than this being a completely dick move is that the American public has moved past this. They moved past it when states like Indiana and Virginia and North Carolina voted for Obama. They moved past it when Democrats captured more than 10 Senate seats over a 2 cycle period. And they certainly moved past it when they started to lose their jobs and their homes and their bills were piling up and they saw their friends or loved ones forgo medical care because they couldn’t afford it.
So let the republican party throw around words like "socialism" or "nationalization" or whatever they want. People are too damn scared of losing everything to care. And people are too damn pissed when the true elite skate by scot free while they struggle every single day. The era of wedge issues and demonization is passing. The republican party (with limited exceptions) has shown that it can do two things very well:
- Ruin everything for everyone but their own cronies and self interests; and
- Whine incessantly and hypocritically while offering up nothing that isn’t the same failed policies or fingerpointing.
Most people are realizing this now as Obama is explaining what we now face in this country (with complete and coherent sentences), if they didn’t already. And as long as republicans think that standing in the way of what may be their last hope at avoiding their entire lives falling out from under them – they do so as foolish stubborn and out of touch jokers who have severely misplayed their hand. Which, while it may be good for Democrats and potential progress, is not good for America.