From the moment President Obama took office, the Republican Party has tried to obstruct government operations. Democrats worried that a law about to go into effect requiring all television signals to be broadcast digitally would harm people who had not yet obtained signal converters (free vouchers were available as part of the law), and wanted to delay its implementation for a few months. This simple measure was met with a filibuster. On issue after issue, even when Republicans agreed that there was a problem, they wanted nothing to do with finding a solution
In 2008, everyone agreed that the economy had fallen apart, that the healthcare system was in dire need of reform (it was Romney's raison d'etre during the nomination), and Climate Change needed to be addressed (Cap and Trade was a Republican market based solution) just to name a few. When Congress created legislation to confront these issues, the Republican refrain was always, "We agree this needs to be fixed, but this is not the answer, let's scrap this bill and start again."
More obstruction below the fold
I have been trying to find a good way to demonstrate the absurdity of this extreme level of obstruction. I believe I have found it in the song, "There's a Hole in the Bucket." Appropriately, I have a link to a version of it from "Sesame Street" here:
http://www.youtube.com/...
If you cannot or do not want to watch the 4:51 minute video, I'll sum it up:
Henry and Liza need water and Henry notices a problem.
Henry: There's a hole in the bucket
Liza: Then fix it!
Henry: How?
Liza: With straw.
Henry: The straw's too long.
Liza: Then cut it.
Henry: How?
Liza: With an ax
Henry: The ax is too dull
Liza: Then sharpen it
Henry: How?
Liza: With a stone
Henry: The stone is too dry
Liza: Then wet it.
Henry: How?
Liza: With water
Henry: How will I get the water?
Liza: With the bucket
Henry: There's a hole in the bucket!
Most Americans agree that we face problems. Most Americans agree on which problems are important. Most Americans believe that government has a role to play in trying to find solutions to those problems. Most Americans, and even most Republicans, are Liza, believing that solutions are a matter of common sense. Henry is the extreme right wing of the Republican Party. Government cannot and should not fix the problem. Trying will only create more problems. Just cut taxes and regulations and the bucket will fix itself. After all, Donuts have holes and nobody complains.