GOP Opposition Mission: Make Obama Fail
05 October 2009 5:49 pm by Taylor Marsh
For one thing, we learned that the modern conservative movement, which dominates the modern Republican Party, has the emotional maturity of a bratty 13-year-old. – Paul Krugman
Paul Krugman offers questions and answers today.
… How did one of our great political parties become so ruthless, so willing to embrace scorched-earth tactics even if so doing undermines the ability of any future administration to govern? The key point is that ever since the Reagan years, the Republican Party has been dominated by radicals — ideologues and/or apparatchiks who, at a fundamental level, do not accept anyone else’s right to govern.
Anyone surprised by the venomous, over-the-top opposition to Mr. Obama must have forgotten the Clinton years. Remember when Rush Limbaugh suggested that Hillary Clinton was a party to murder? When Newt Gingrich shut down the federal government in an attempt to bully Bill Clinton into accepting those Medicare cuts? And let’s not even talk about the impeachment saga. [...]
Taylor Branch, in his new book The Clinton Tapes, reminds us very early in the tome (page 8, to be specific) that this attitude is the very pulse of Republicanism, for which they show no shame.
Clinton said Dole spoke of the opposition’s job not as making deals but rather making the president fail, so he could be replaced as quickly as possible. In fact, he said Dole himself started running for president within ten days of Clinton’s inauguration.
This is unlike Democratic lawmakers, who seem to be afraid of ever appearing too harsh on a president for fear of being called unpatriotic, which includes looking back at past Administration misdeeds, even crimes, even when that is what is required.
The DesMoines Register offers their own view (via Memeorandum) of the help Pres. Obama is getting: It seems Obama is blessed by his enemies. Hallelujah and amen.
