From the moment he stepped foot into office, it has been clear what the agenda against him has been. Hope he fails, help him fail and make any success look like a failure What does Obama's failure and America's success look like simultaneously? The picture has obstructionism at the core, but obstruction measures forgot to account for Obama's pen and phone.
John Boehner is none to pleased with the compromise to his power that the executive order creates. Modern obstructionist' seem to think obstructionism is a new and novel idea. Congressional inaction, of any kind, is the reason for the executive order and only congress, or the next president, can override them.
Ironically, the very power that Boehner believes Obama is taking from he and his cohorts is still firmly wrapped within the majority agreement design that used to embody his group.
Meanwhile, Mexico and its neighbors remain on the edge of destruction. Losing thousands of children is a recipe for disaster in the future of any nation. Even Japan is facing a desperate crossroad created by population reduction efforts of the past. People are the wealth of a nation, and America is not worse for the influx, we are only worse from the downward spiral we are silently allowing in South America. At some point, our silence becomes complicit. History shows that evil refuses to remain contained. Once South America loses its hope for the future, it becomes a nation of no consequences. Terrorism could benefit from such an environment
This idea of presidential complicity seems to be the angle that angry Obama opponents are taking. Despite immigration being a very old problem, Obama has been accused of ushering in the next generation of democrats via immigration. If they are correct, disengaging the American job magnet which finances the coyote rings seems smarter than building a wall or turning the National Guard into full time border control agents.
Turned back migrants will try again and again. If staying home wasn't more risky than crossing the desert, no one would risk it. Clearly they must set out realizing that hundreds never make it alive. Yet, the alternative must be worse. Unless I am wrong, the National Guard will be stuck at the border forever.
Or, until we fix the real problem. Comprehensive legislation (like the one Boehner is blocking) must be a part of our holistic approach to immigration reform. Save the bandaid, this bleeding is profuse.
This is my Valentine's Day political report. I know, the marriage of politics and love is a stretch, but flex with me anyway.
Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack once sang an amazing song called "Where Is The Love". Because they sang it with such beautiful harmony, it is a song that few recount as a death of a relationship song. Conservatives have come to the "End of the Road" (Boyz II Men, another death of love song) and must separate themselves from those they call RINO's or accept that politician formerly known as Republican is just like the Democrat, the names we currently use to win elections. Over time those names and their meanings have changed to harm the innocent and protect the guilty.
Republicans have to recognize that the country's heart is breaking in two over this war that is destroying our understanding of conservatism. Modern political party's are more challenged than ever to define a clear direction for an internet electorate that is too smart to keep falling for the old tax and spend shell game, or the reducing of taxes only for the people who fund elections.
Rogue republicans have gone out on their own with the notion that only democrats are poor and that only republicans are interested in ending the need for welfare. The act of "going rogue" has been transformed by republicans into their business as usual. In fact, without an agreement about message, there technically is no stream to swim against.
The mythical character Captain Kirk always made the final call about what the Star Trek Enterprise would do in the midst of their travails, but it was rarely without disagreement and discourse. On occasion, the episode involved failed decisions that had drastic ramifications, but decision makers in this futuristic example were more likely to beat themselves up than to have it done by subordinates.
John Boehner should be so lucky.
Boehner is now being painted (or photoshop'd) with a sombrero for his unwillingness to continue to obstruct an immigration bill that is ready for signature. He got a similar line of attack when he allowed a vote on a clean debt bill.. Boehner believes that there are many republican voters, including Hispanic voters, who insist we bring the immigration bill before congress. Boehner does not hear America screaming for him to swim against this tide; to accept that we are forever married to the Mexican immigrant
The only real value of long term recession is that it squeezes the masses into action. Needs of the common man that were once ignored become significant electoral issue's that suddenly steer elections. Income equality, a living wage and healthcare changes have all conspired to make the economy the direct and indirect issue of this campaign season. Obamacare threatens to cause economic loss for some, but should be an economic benefit to most. Will those impacted be a significant enough number to turn the fate of an election?
The Hatfield and the McCoys fought for so long, that they probably found themselves a bit empty when the fighting came to an end. Similarly, the democrats are now looking over the fence as the republican family gets a weekly sheriff visit from all of the domestic violence going on in their house. No matter how bad you disagree with your neighbor, you never celebrate such demise. Unfortunately, its hard to find love when your mind is immersed in hate.
Obama bashing is starting to feel like a harmless prank. When you listen to internal republican strife, it makes Obama hate feel like getting TP'd by your neighbors compared to the domestic war that they are waging against one another over who shall determine the conservative agenda. Every egg that democrats throw on republican windows in response is simply adding to the mess of egg that they've created for themselves in becoming the anti-everything (except war and oil) party.
During this Valentine season of love, we need to remind the republicans to promote more love and not more war and oil production. If it were not for the Keystone pipeline or fracking, I would not know how to explain the current republican agenda. What the world needs now is love, sweet love. Its the only thing that there's just too little of. War and oil have their place, but they are hardly the instruments of unity.
When republican didn't add on, this is how I felt.
The debt ceiling debate is front and center again.
I wrote this first sentence a few weeks ago because I knew that the deadline had arrived for something to happen. When Paul Ryan and Patty Murray got together months ago and drafted a sequestor relief bill, the obstructionist could be heard across America. How dare Ryan and Murray remove the opportunity to conduct a sit down strike in congress?
Their bill was functionally a whole lot of nothing designed to save congress from themselves. Plummeting approval ratings were at the risk of sinking lower if another shutdown of government occurred, but too many of these revolutionary representatives did not come to improve their approval ratings. In fact, the district they came from is so perfectly gerrymandered that these dogs only respond to one master.
Have you ever entered a room with lots of people all engaging in separate conversations, and none of them with a hope in hell of seeing eye to eye? When republicans got together to determine how they would use the debt ceiling vote to force the hand of the democrats and president Obama, that is what the room became. Obama has made it clear that he would not play this game and made republicans blink first the last time they tried this approach.
This time, the fight never even came to a death defying game of chicken. No one ever got around to taking that deep breath just before you would collide if someone didn't give in at chicken. Republicans have waved the white flag to avoid the damage of "so called" friendly fire. From the various reports, they got tired of arguing with each other and just decided to test the vote to see if the debate was even worthwhile. When the test vote found the debate to be futile, the party leaders chose to simply move on.
And so nothing it is. Both branches of congress have voted to pass a clean (nothing attached to the bill) debt ceiling bill. In some ways I understand what is going on with this party, but I can only decipher things that happen with intention. You know, like Boehner growing sick of arguing and forcing the bill to a vote on the floor. Everything else is a haphazard result of a kite with one damaged wing. They will hit the ground soon, but no telling what the journey to the bottom will look like.
What does Obama's failure and America's success look like simultaneously? The picture has obstructionism at the core, but obstruction measures forgot to account for Obama's pen and phone.
