A Tale of Two Cities

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Boy, what a contrast between President Obama and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell's speeches after Tuesday's midterm election. Dumping President Obama is McConnell's highest priority (his words, not mine). So this is what America has to look forward to: gridlock. Despite voters saying in poll after poll they want Congress and the President to work together, the message just doesn't sink in.

Comments

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

Look, the more of this post-election stuff I witness (and take part in), the more I'm afraid your side might turn out to be accused of utter butthurt. I was surprised that my expectations to see these forums getting flooded with triumphalist conservative exclamations, got overwhelmed by liberal lamentations instead - of the saddest "but you're not gonna work with us; where's your integrity/responsibility/bipartisanship, no oh no!" sort.

Dude, the world hasn't ended yet. Maybe just take a break from this subject and give it a rest for a while. Without even noticing these sort of statements have most certainly been giving ammo to your opponents who are probably sniggering under their breath and who would've probably laughed-out-loud if they weren't still so drunken from the victory party. ;)

[telemann.livejournal.com]

For a person who's making claims I'm hyperventilating, you're really reading a lot into what I've posted here. But thanks for trying to cheer "my side" [finger quotes] up.

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

I would've needed it, had these matters been of any direct concern to me. Believe me, I'm your neutral side spectator so you may trust me to notice stuff that may not be visible from inside the boiling pot.

I may be reading too much, granted. I'm only sharing an observation which has been sneaking in for the last couple of days.

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

Oh. You're fast in editing. :)

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Curious how it's pretty evident even to a remote foreigner how today everything boils down to your-side/my-side in American politics (but sadly, not only there).

[devil-ad-vocate.livejournal.com]

McConnell only pays attention to the wishes of the 'real' Americans. Screw anyone else.

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

It was about time you brought out the heavy artillery. ;)

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

You're kinda right, you know. Aren't our comrades getting a bit too whiny lately? Grow up a somewhat tougher spine, shall we? Show some teeth dignity, perhaps?

The Dems must be known for having a loser mentality for a reason. Go on comrades, prove it wrong.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Um, viva la... Revolucion?

(Runs away and hides under the kitchen).

[mrbogey.livejournal.com]

'...the more I'm afraid your side might turn out to be accused of utter butthurt.'

Accused? Next you'll tell me people are going to accuse OJ of murdering Nicole.

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

I was trying to be diplomatic. :)

[udoswald.livejournal.com]

the message just doesn't sink in.

Why should it? The Republicans made it very clear before the election that they had no interest in working with Obama and the Democrats. They promised they would bring the government to a grinding halt (more so than before). Some people contacted by pollsters may have assured themselves that their Republican vote was just a plea to get the parties to work together but they're lying, either to themselves to the pollster or both. If Americans really wanted a situation where the Democrats and Republicans were going to work together, they wouldn't have voted for a slate of Republicans who promised the opposite at every opportunity.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Or maybe instead they should've given a full mandate/domination to the Democrats so they could practically say "fuck you GOP we're gonna do this alone", which again means no working together. (But in that case that wouldn't matter that much, would it?)

[udoswald.livejournal.com]

At least when the Democrats were supposedly ignoring the Republicans, it was in the service of getting things done. They were forced to ignore the Republicans because the GOP strategy was to block everything. Obama tried his best to reach out to them, he gutted most of the good parts of the healthcare bill to try to hook any Republican votes. Now that the Republicans are in power in the House they're not suggesting ignoring the Democrats because the Dems are standing in the way of progress, they're doing it because they have no interest in compromise. I guarantee you there will be no watering down of Republican bills to gain Democratic support, they'll just play chicken with the economy and peoples' lives (by shutting down the government and refusing to pass needed funding bills) until the Dems give in.

"fuck you GOP we're gonna do this alone"

It was more "fuck you GOP, if you're going to stand in the corner and throw a temper tantrum every time we try to get something done we're gonna have to do this alone." It's impossible to work with a group of people whose entire strategy is to make sure nothing gets done, that's not the Dems fault.

[geezer-also.livejournal.com]

They had it for a while, frankly I can think of no reason for them (the dems) to have made some of the compromises they did, other than all of their people weren't that happy with the different proposals.

Sometimes no IS the answer.

[geezer-also.livejournal.com]

As I see it, the problem lies in the fact that "compromise" means you do exactly what I want.

Re: Sometimes no IS the answer.

[ironhawke.livejournal.com]

So...like 2000-2006?

Re: Sometimes no IS the answer.

[ironhawke.livejournal.com]

Or even 2000-2008 given that the second the Dems showed any balls, Cheney threatened to remove the filibuster....

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

Despite voters saying in poll after poll they want Congress and the President to work together, the message just doesn't sink in.

That's because we're talking to Obama and I guess he's just too dense to get it.

[dwer.livejournal.com]

Jesus Christ. The health care bill is FULL of republican ideas. The stimulus package was 50% tax cuts because the republicans wanted it. Your statement is UTTER FUCKING BULLSHIT.

If anything, Obama has been TOO conciliatory.

[sealwhiskers.livejournal.com]

They're already completely owned by the Republicans. There is politically speaking no point what so ever to make distinctions between Tea Party, Libertarians and Republicans.

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's his take home message from Tuesday?

[drcruel.livejournal.com]

McConnell and the Republicans are gambling that they can put off dealing with the important issues-you know, the ones on which they took no policy positions during the election season, which is pretty much all of them-blame their lack of substantiative policy-making on the Democrats, and thus have another tidal wave of white anger with which to dethrone our traitorous (Kenyan Muslim) President in 2012. McConnell said it's his top priority, after all. They think inaction plays in their favor-who knows, they may be right, they've filibustered everything the Democrats put forward and blamed us for inaction for the last 2yrs.