We don't get it.
By watching this week's Meet The Press, you would think the events and statements of the preceding days had never happened. David Axelrod sounded defensive and John Boehner so smug that it seemed as though he hadn't sat in front of the President twice this week and was called out for cheap politics.
So here's the score... As significant the State of the Union was this week (this column's political SuperBowl), Mr. Obama went into the Republicans house, out numbered 141 to one and spanked them all. One idiot of a commentator from Politico actually said that the President had the advantage because he's President and got to stand at the podium. Republicans had prepared questions, to which the President answered off the cuff, clearly showing a better command of the facts and statistics. The State of the Union laid the challenge at the feet of the Republicans in front of the American People, and the Baltimore face-off was the call.
However, we must also point out that the President does have a tendency to, what some would call, lecture and what some other would call condescend, using phrases like, "This is how democracy works," etc. But we get why that is. It's the professorial background, it's, frankly, being a person in the Presidency while simultaneously being in the demographic minority, and just plain feeling outnumbered on many occasions.
What we really didn't hear articulated in the press was that what Mr. Obama was doing was putting the Democrats on his back, for at least this week, in the face of the recent Senate loss in Massachusetts. Of course, Mr. Axelrod would never say as much in todays interview. We give credit to Mr. Gregory for putting the President's senior advisor on the defensive, but Mr. Axelrod is not a solid counter puncher.
Beginning with the subject of the Khalid Sheik Mohammad trial and saying that Attorney General Eric Holder did not consult the President beforehand on where the trial should be held. Actually, the A.G. doesn't really have to consult with the President on that call. No matter where you try Mr. Mohammad, it will cost money. A military tribunal gets televised where a federal criminal trial does not. But what's really disappointing about all this pull back from trying this man in New York City is to see fear kick in, and that we don't want 'to provoke other terror attacks' in the city. Frankly, that's not the New York City that I know. The one we're familiar with would say, "Put that bastard on the stand." It's not even the country that we know that would back away.
Again, the opposition to the trial mainly comes from the Republicans, once again using the tactics of fear. Mr. Axelrod should a bit more confidence because our law enforcement is more than ably fit to handle security for such a trial. What they should do is hold Mr. Mohammed outside the city while the trial is in recess, for prudence sake. Mr. Axelrod's soft form messaging doesn't resonate and we think that translates to the President's unclear rhetoric as well.
However, Mr. Axelrod is correct when he says that Healthcare shouldn't wait and that the House and Senate committees should be crafting a consensus bill starting tomorrow. And Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana is being defeatist in saying that it is on life support. Even though she forfeited any leadership role in healthcare reform long ago, this kind of statement solidifies it.
And speaking of statements, this leads to the President's dissent to the Supreme Court decision voiced during the State of the Union address. Mr. Axelrod, not surprisingly, declared that it was absolutely appropriate for the President to challenge the decision with the Justices sitting in tow. At The Opinion, we completely disagree with the Court's decision, which essentially equates a corporation to an individual with regard to the Bill of Rights. The decision was activist at the least, corporate fascist at best. However, was that the forum to confront the decision? Not really, but you earn the bully pulpit, you're just not given that and when you have it, you have to use it. It was unprecedented but this was no ordinary ruling - it rolled back 100 years of various legislation.
"So are we better off now comparatively to a year ago?" Mr. Gregory asked Mr. Axelrod. He said 'yes' but said that they is much to be done. That sounds about right. We really aren't better off, it's more like we're not worse. It's a lack of capital, in all its different capacities. People have less money, less spirit to take risk, and a dearth of innovation right now paralyzing us all.
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And one of the main culprits of the paralysis was the program's next guest Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) who lead off with, "As the minority party, we have the obligation to stand on principal." But this is a laughable statement and because he didn't explain it, we'll have to. And what he means about principals, Republican principals to be exact, are small government, fiscal restraint, and little regulation. These principals themselves are not at issue, it's the failure to live up to them. Mr. Boehner uses these principals only when it's political expedient. Not long ago, the Republicans controlled all three branches and spending was out of control and the lack of regulation that produced unreasonably risking financial bets practically crashed the world's economy.
Mr. Boehner said that Republicans are getting back to the principals, that they've learned their lesson on spending. They can now stand on those principals because they have no responsibility to govern. And when they were governing, their principals completely dropped by the wayside. For all practical purposes, Republicans have long spent their political capital, only 25% of the electoral identify themselves as Republican.
Given this, the House Minority Leader emphatically stated that the Republicans have offered better solutions on all aspects of the country, but alas have been shut out of the conversation by the Democrats. However, what he fails to say is that there is no conversation if the Republicans are not willing to compromise on any piece of legislation. Compounding this is that fact that Democrats continually place another hurtle in front of them impeding a reach for the finish on any bill. But getting back to the point of 'better solutions,' even most pundits have trouble naming any clear cut Republican proposal with the possible except on TORT reform within the healthcare debate. TORT Reform [limiting the payments of damages in cases of malpractice] is not a panacea for solving our out-of-control healthcare expenditures, but you would think so listening to Mr. Boehner.
He continued to say that he doesn't want to see a government take over of healthcare. Fine, but that's not what is being proposed. This column likes the idea of extending Medicare for people at age 55, however, the cost of doing that is a great concern. The counter to that would be to have a public option insurance plan among the choices of the other private insurance plans. Both of those seek to insure more Americans across the country and both are being rejected by Republicans. Democrats are unable to use the majority leverage that they have to push through their agenda so that leaves the American people in limbo, wondering if, not when, things will get better - our confidence broken.
The entire citizenry suffers for the politically expedient actions of any one party. Dogmatic ideology will be this country's undoing.
And lastly, Mr. Gregory asked Mr. Boehner about Mr. Obama's State of the Union declaration to end the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" military policy of having gays serve in the military. With everything going on, Mr. Boehner explained, why would we want to have this debate? This column believes that there is no debate to be had - repeal this policy and let gays and lesbians serve in the military. And the American people are ahead of the Republican politicians on this. They seem uniformly offended that Mr. Obama would even bring up this subject, which is offensive in and of itself.
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