Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Bi-partisan Incompetence

It is hard to view what is going on in Washington these days without becoming overwhelmed by the historic level of incompetence.
The Senate finally confirmed Chuck Hagel’s nomination for Secretary of Defense.  What amounted to a historic seven week filibuster ended with a 58-41 vote largely along party lines.  Republicans grudgingly approved cloture allowing the confirmation vote to occur but not before 18 of members of their party voted to continue debate.  To what end?  To smear the president’s nominee and to hopefully dig up some scandalous dirt on what the president was doing when terrorists attacked the US consulate in Benghazi.  What does Hagel’s confirmation have to do with Benghazi?  Nothing!  Does this all sound convoluted?  Absolutely!  Never before in American history had a minority party used the filibuster to block a presidential cabinet nominee.  But, as John McCain readily admitted, Republicans held up Hagels’ confirmation as pay back for some of his attacks against George W. Bush and the Iraq war some eight years ago.  In summary…John McCain, Lindsay Graham and Ted Cruze led a seven week filibuster to block a presidential cabinet appointment…on a grudge.
We wrote yesterday of how CPAC had decided to NOT invite New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to speak at their annual convention.  The rebuke stemming from Christie’s praise of the president’s handling of the devastation brought on by Hurricane Sandy and his criticism of John Boehner and the Republican caucus for holding up the federal aid to his state for political reasons.  CPAC issued a statement confirming that these were the reasons for the snub and advised that if the governor were to get more in line with CPAC’s true conservative agenda he might receive the honor of being invited back next year.  Christie is a Republican governor in a blue state with a 74% approval rating.  The Republican Party has an approval rating in the 20’s.  So to be clear…the party with an approval rating in the 20’s is snubbing a member of their own party who has an approval rating in the 70’s!  Brilliant!
The NRA continues to do everything in its power to derail ANY attempts to impose stricter gun control laws.  Republicans, fearing a primary challenge from the far right, continue to bow in deference to the NRA and parrot the NRA talking points.  National polls show that voters favor stricter gun control laws by a wide margin.  New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s gun control PAC pours $2.5 million into a Illinois Democratic primary race to fill the seat of Jesse Jackson Jr.  Bloomberg’s candidate, Robin Kelly, defeats NRA candidate Debbie Halvorson by 30 points.  Bloomberg vows to continue to use his vast fortune to defeat pro-gun candidates.  Republicans ignore the handwriting on the wall and continue to parrot NRA talking points.
The much ballyhooed sequestration cuts go into effect this Friday.  This bi-partisan, self imposed reckless piece of legislation, proposed by the White House, will have a devastating effect on millions of Americans not o mention our national security.  The pentagon has announced the furlough of 750,000 employees.   Those are real jobs.  The Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has said that he is unable to task a carrier group into the Persian Gulf due to lack of funds.  The US typically maintains two carrier groups in the area because about one fifth of the world’s oil supply flows through the gulf.  It is hard to imagine the richest country in the world being unable to conduct security operations due to partisan malfeasance.  The congress and the White House have had two years to craft a compromise that would avert these drastic cuts.  As the deadline loomed congress went on a 10 day recess and the president went on a campaign type tour.  The parties are not talking to each other…nothing is getting done.  Three days and counting!
Over the course of the next few months congress and the White House will have to deal with a number of deadlines that will impact the economy.  First we have the much discussed sequestration cuts.  Then there is the debate over raising the debt ceiling followed by the continuing resolution to keep the government funded and running.  Each of these deadlines will generate rancorous partisan debates about the manner in which we spend our tax dollars.  In each of these upcoming debates the president will hold a winning card that will swing the dialogue in his favor…entitlement reform.  Entitlement reform is a topic that the president knows must be addressed at some point in time.  Given our aging population, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid cannot continue on in their current path.  This is not a matter of politics; it is a matter of math.  The current course is simply unsustainable.  The president can demonstrate the leadership that we are all looking for by coming out with a specific proposal to reform these necessary social programs.  He has hinted that he would consider some form of entitlement reform but he won’t get specific.  He says that he is waiting on Republicans to show their hand.  This strategy is ineffective and simply bad for the country.  It is not the type of leadership that the people are looking for.  The president is in his second term; unburdened by the prospect of another election.  He knows that entitlement reform is inevitable.  So why not show leadership and offer a plan that reforms these programs on his terms.  If the president plays that card he will be able to get his way on sequestration, debt ceiling, continuing resolution, tax reform or any other financial reform agenda he wishes to propose.  The president holds the winning card in his hands.  Thus far he has been inexplicably unwilling to play it.                          
       

No comments:

Post a Comment