As an admitted political junkie of the liberal persuasion, the last few weeks have been terrible for me. The Democrats lost the majority in the House which means Nancy Pelosi has to hand over her gavel to John Boehner in a few weeks. Despite the success of health care reform, too many other legislative priorities have not gone anywhere and for the next two years it is pretty clear that the status quo will remain. Charlie Rangel was censured for financial improprieties by a hyper-partisan body bent on shaming him (I'm not suggesting that he did not deserve admonishment but this might have been overkill). And President Obama is being advised by people who feted him in the streets of DC just two years ago to hang it up in two years.
And on top of all of this, freaking BRAVO took "West Wing" off in favor of airing more lame reality shows! DAYUM!
The most recent disappointment comes in the form of the tax deal that was agreed to by the White House that would extend tax cuts for everyone for another two years. Some other concessions were made to ensure that unemployment benefits continue for those who would have lost them and there appears to be a Social Security reprieve of sorts, but this overall, this kind of sucks. The President can claim that he acted in the best interests of the Nation, and I honestly believe him. And perhaps the GOP can make the same claim (although they, I don't believe). But our national deficit, which has supposedly the reason why the country voted to change course last month, is going to increase, so I fail to see how this deal was anything less than Faustian.
But that is the unabashed partisan Ayanna talking. I hate this and I think the President should have resisted the urge to negotiate with people who will just as soon hold hearings about the authenticity of his Hawaiian birth certificate in the same breath as they applaud themselves for being so bipartisan...
The Ayanna who is striving to be more patient believes that there is a plan underway. President Obama is not an idiot. He may take a few losses, but he will get up and stay in the fight. I have to believe that this man is astute enough to recognize that if long term change is what he was elected to deliver, then that must mean some short term same-old same-old politics as usual.
As I mentioned to the husand this morning, this is the same GOP that impeached President Clinton after he struck a deal with them to balance the budget and to reform welfare. So the current POTUS is smart enough to recognize that these same people are going to smile in his face and lie to their constituents about how much they care when the truth is that they only care about remaining in power. And if your opponent only cares about winning at all costs, then you sometimes have to let them...
I remember feeling this way when George W. Bush won reelection in 2004. It was devastating, but soon enough he proved that he was nothing Great about this Decider...he was in over his head. In their lust for absolute power, the GOP propped up a man whose legacy will include two mangled war efforts, massive national debt, the destruction of a major American city by a natural disaster, two recessions, the near collapse of the auto, housing and banking industries; yet he believes that his worst Presidential moment was being called a racist by Kanye West.
So my faith may be a little shaken, but if I took to heart everything that the President said throughout the campaign, that yes we can, then I need to be prepared to take a few hits. No victory worth winning is easy, and that includes those battles that are not worth the fight. I have faith that things will work out in the end because it was faith that brought us to this point in the first place.
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