Mitch McConnell is a name few of my neighbors here in New Hampshire know. They know the names of the Boston Red Sox players, but that's about as far from New Hampshire as many of them extend their interests.
Mitch McConnell is a Washington creature. Voters from Kentucky send him to the Senate because he's Southern slick. He can stab you in the back and you think he's just patting you on the back.
One thing about Mitch though, he occasionally is disarmingly honest: When speaking of some legislation designed to pump federal government money back into the economy, to stimulate, resuscitate and invest he examined the proposal and concluded it might just actually be good for the economy and balked. If he allowed this bill to get through the Senate the economy might recover and he said, "Why would I want to help elect Obama to another term? My first priority is defeating him."
So there you have it, put about as plainly as you will ever get from anyone in Washington. The Republican leadership frankly acknowledges they perceive their job to make the citizens of this country so miserable they will blame the President and throw him out.
Implicit in all this is the conviction the voters are stupid enough to not realize or to not care if they do realize the responsibility for the failure in the "Obama economy" lies with the Republican party and it's refusal to act for the benefit of the country.
I suppose, what they are really saying is: Having Obama is such an evil outcome, it is better to make the people, the economy, the children, the patients, all the nation's institutions suffer than it is to keep this horrible person in office.
I am told this is not a new concept in American history--I am told that opposition parties of the past have thought it their primary job to defeat the devil incarnate in the White House at all costs. I will look into this. I suppose you might say the election of Lincoln was such a time, but in his case it wasn't just the opposition party hated him--they hated him for a reason, They thought he would end slavery.
In Obama's case, it's a little like the question we were all asking after the Twin Towers attack--Why do they hate us so?
Of course, the Republicans call him names--a socialist, a radical--but he's a pretty mild mannered guy with a very centrist agenda and he's been willing to compromise more than his own supporters feel comfortable with. The "reasons" spewing forth from Rush Limbaugh and company are, it must be admitted, pretty lame. It is clear Rush and company are in fact genuinely apoplectic about the simple fact Obama is living in the White House. They do not like the man, or they do not like what he is.
Looking at President Obama on television, I don't get it. He strikes me as so inoffensive. That's the maddening thing about him, from my point of view: I wish he were more offensive, more like Barney Frank, for example. Someone who can throw a punch, someone who will reply to some Tea Party loonie who calls Obama a Nazi, "On what planet do you spend the majority of your time?"
So why do they hate this man so? Why would they be willing to bring down World Trade, National Trade, The Entire Economy just to rid the country of this ostensibly inoffensive president? What has been his offense?
You will have to draw your own conclusions.
My own is GWB, or attempting to.
Mitch McConnell is a Washington creature. Voters from Kentucky send him to the Senate because he's Southern slick. He can stab you in the back and you think he's just patting you on the back.
One thing about Mitch though, he occasionally is disarmingly honest: When speaking of some legislation designed to pump federal government money back into the economy, to stimulate, resuscitate and invest he examined the proposal and concluded it might just actually be good for the economy and balked. If he allowed this bill to get through the Senate the economy might recover and he said, "Why would I want to help elect Obama to another term? My first priority is defeating him."
So there you have it, put about as plainly as you will ever get from anyone in Washington. The Republican leadership frankly acknowledges they perceive their job to make the citizens of this country so miserable they will blame the President and throw him out.
Implicit in all this is the conviction the voters are stupid enough to not realize or to not care if they do realize the responsibility for the failure in the "Obama economy" lies with the Republican party and it's refusal to act for the benefit of the country.
I suppose, what they are really saying is: Having Obama is such an evil outcome, it is better to make the people, the economy, the children, the patients, all the nation's institutions suffer than it is to keep this horrible person in office.
I am told this is not a new concept in American history--I am told that opposition parties of the past have thought it their primary job to defeat the devil incarnate in the White House at all costs. I will look into this. I suppose you might say the election of Lincoln was such a time, but in his case it wasn't just the opposition party hated him--they hated him for a reason, They thought he would end slavery.
In Obama's case, it's a little like the question we were all asking after the Twin Towers attack--Why do they hate us so?
Of course, the Republicans call him names--a socialist, a radical--but he's a pretty mild mannered guy with a very centrist agenda and he's been willing to compromise more than his own supporters feel comfortable with. The "reasons" spewing forth from Rush Limbaugh and company are, it must be admitted, pretty lame. It is clear Rush and company are in fact genuinely apoplectic about the simple fact Obama is living in the White House. They do not like the man, or they do not like what he is.
Looking at President Obama on television, I don't get it. He strikes me as so inoffensive. That's the maddening thing about him, from my point of view: I wish he were more offensive, more like Barney Frank, for example. Someone who can throw a punch, someone who will reply to some Tea Party loonie who calls Obama a Nazi, "On what planet do you spend the majority of your time?"
So why do they hate this man so? Why would they be willing to bring down World Trade, National Trade, The Entire Economy just to rid the country of this ostensibly inoffensive president? What has been his offense?
You will have to draw your own conclusions.
My own is GWB, or attempting to.
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