Can You Hear Me NOW!??
Dear President Obama,
The voters of Massachusetts have sent a message - and it’s not “stay the course”
A little over a year ago we fought and voted for “Change We Can Believe In”
What we’ve received is “Compromise That Sucks!”
I know, I know. Governing is more complicated than electioneering. But, what you have failed to understand is the depth of the desire for change and the impatience of most Americans. And you’ve surrounded yourself with the folks that are stuck inside “beltway-think” and who are way too self assured that the path to success is moving toward the Republican point of view. You carried Massachusetts by TWENTY SIX points just over a year ago - and those voters wanted change. In their minds you have failed to deliver change and so now they have voted for change. AGAIN! Ted Kennedy is turning in his grave.
Your pursuit of “bipartisanship” is folly. It’s clear that no Republican will compromise with anything that our party stands for. (We spent weeks waiting for Olympia Snowe to come to the table.) And, while you have pursued bipartisanship, the Republicans have thrown every possible log in the path of progress. And now they don’t run as Republicans, but as anti-incumbents. Yes, change is still alive in America, but Democrats are not delivering it and we can lose the best opportunity we may ever have if we don’t start taking names and kicking some butt -which is exactly what the voters STILL want.
You must alter course - and not in the direction that your closest advisers will point.
Here are some recommendations:
First, 51 votes is a majority in the Senate, not 60. Bush never had 60 votes and he got almost everything he wanted through the Senate. Harry Reid miscalculated. And so did you. Change this. If it means getting a new Majority Leader, do it. Harry Reid probably won’t be there next year, anyway.
Second, stop relying on Rahm Emanuel. His brilliance was helpful when Democrats did not have a majority, but not now. Rahm is not the answer. You need someone who connects with the voters and who will harness their anger, not someone who disdains them. I know this is painful, but you must do it to save your presidency.
Third, do the right things. Now. End “Don’t ask, don’t tell”. Close Guantanamo. The folks that feel strongly about these things are many and you need them. Our party needs them.
Almost all voters have very little idea of how complicated governance can be, but they are in charge -and they demand change. Please give it to them. Now.
Our hopes are still with you.
P.S. The title is a bit of a cheap shot, but I couldn’t resist.
Some problems are not rooted in mere ignorance. They are not the consequence of a failure to communicate. It is not a case of whether or not they understand what you are trying to do or convincing them of your sincerity and desire for cooperation. They are just committed to your failure for reasons that lay so deep in their own subjectivity and psychology that reason, particularly your reason, can’t reach deep enough to unearth them. This is the problem President Obama faces. However long he pursues a politics of compromise and denial, at the end of the day, this is what he is facing. Moreover, it is complicated by factors that he may grasp intellectually but I am afraid does not appreciate existentially. If he does, his political approach and tactics do not reflect it. His desire to help the whole country does not mean the whole country will help him, and certainly not the current cast of Character’s in congress, many of whom exercise disproportionate power that undermines the will of the people for change–a will expressed clearly in his election.
Senators must once again be made to get up and talk until they and their allies are talked out (*) if only to make it extremely visible to the Public who is responsible for the deadlock in the Senate. If they want to filibuster, then as Steve says make them talk. Doing so they can spend their energy trying to convince their colleagues to vote with them with their public oratory or they can rally the country to their side. Somehow visibility on who is responsible for the stalemate must be brought back if there is any hope to bringing balance to our form of government. Just as Martin Luther King, Jr. preached civil disobedience it was only because he was willing to pay the price for his actions by going to jail that his actions got moral authority. These guys who are playing with blackmail don’t expect to have to pay anything for their acts. Like all bullies and cheats they believe they are above the laws and rules of honorable behavior. Make them talk.
If a senator thinks an issue is so important he/she will filibuster, then they should filibuster and keep talking until 61 senators are convinced by their constituents that cloture is in order. The two senators from Alabama should actually stand and talk, not just threaten to do so, demonstrating they will prevent people from serving our nation in 70 different locations, because their state might lose contracts to the state of Washington and Boeing corp, will show the voters of Alabama that “me” is not as important as US.