The Obstructionist “Party of No” Must Go
The Senate Republicans, with plenty of help from bumbling Democrats, have finally done it. They have succeeded in paralyzing the government, and ensuring that absolutely none of “the peoples” business will be accomplished in the near future. They did not accomplish this objective through normal “parliamentary” give and take, but rather by stone-walling every initiative with procedural roadblocks. The strategy has not been to oppose legislation with “No” votes. It has been to use procedural maneuvers to ensure that legislation never has a chance to be voted on at all. At the very heart of the problem are the archaic, Senate rules that allow a disgruntled minority to throw the entire government into “vapor-lock”. A perfect example of the ability of a single Senator to stand in the way of the government moving forward with the peoples’ business is Republican Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama. By abusing procedural tactics, Senator Shelby has put on hold all outstanding nominations of the Obama Administration, including seventy high-level government positions. The Senator from Alabama has pledged to block these nominations until his state gets a tanker contract and a counter-terrorism center. Believe it or not, Senate rules allow him the power to resort to “legal black-mail”. Somuch for the Senate traditions of courtesy, reciprocity and accommodation.
Not only have the Senate Republicans paralyzed the workings of government, they have steadfastly refused to offer any specific proposals of their own. There have no proposals on comprehensive health care reform, no proposals on reducing the deficit, no proposals on long term solutions to the looming Medicare crisis, and no proposals on much-needed banking reforms. In fact, the Republicans have abdicated any responsibility at all for making things work better. Their mantra is plain and simple: hold the government hostage until they get their pet projects funded, and deny the Democrats any legislative victories regardless of what’s in the best interests of the people of the United States. Sadly, the politics of paralyzing the government to ensure nothing will be accomplished is working according to plan.
The November Congressional elections are still a long way off, but the Republican strategy is clear; filibuster every bill, block every government appointment, offer no alternative solutions, then point fingers at the Democrats and say “they can’t get anything accomplished”. As a result of this, it is time for the Obama Administration to take off the “kid gloves”, give up on the spirit of bi-partisanship, and expose the Republicans as obstructionists. It is time to use the bully-pulpit of the Presidency to call out Senators, such as Shelby, for public censure. After only one single year in office, President Obama has done his best to work along side the Republican minority to craft legislation that will move America forward. Out of pure spite over sweeping losses last November, and for blatantly political reasons the Republican party has given up on governing, and decided to do whatever they can to bring down the Obama Administration. The people of the United States should not reward obstructionist behavior with their votes in November. The Republicans need another whopping defeat at the polls, before they finally get the message.
—Rich
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The Republicans know that we have a short memory. We can’t even remember 2008. By the time the elections come around, they’ll be campaigning as if none of this ever happened, and the Democrats just never got around to doing anything. Except trying to be Socialist.
Bluz,
I hope that Obama and the Congressional Democrats never tire of reminding voters why the “peoples agenda” has been thwarted.
You are wrong on so many counts.
The Democrats have a majority in BOTH houses of Congress, they don’t need Republicans to do anything and they can pass their agenda. This is what happened with the stimulus which sailed quickly through the House and the Senate. Why did Cap and Trade, Obamakare, and everything else fail? Because Democrats can’t unite (and because the American public is opposed to it).
The Republicans have proposed healthcare reform. It was sent to the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Energy Committee on May 20, 2009 where it has sat to this day. Democrats control 3 out of 4 seats there.
For every item you said Republicans have no plan they actually have submitted a plan but Democrats have sent it to committee to die.
Regarding Republicans filibustering every bill this was actually not possible until Scott Brown beat a Democrat in Massachusetts because Democrats had a filibuster-proof supermajority.
I think you need to look at President Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi for your issues. Why just today Obama held a little news conference about the importance of being “bi-partisan” then his spokesman mocked Sarah Palin.
As shown above, you have many facts wrong. The American people will soon hand the seat of the deceased John Murtha to a Republican just as they did for Ted Kennedy’s seat.
Democrats try and sell the lie of the “party of no” but fortunately the American people are smart enough to see through this ruse and that’s why Obama and his party are in the dumps.
You also forget that when Bush was president several Democrats put a hold on his nominees including the first Hispanic to be nominated for the Supreme Court. Bush withdrew the nomination because Democrats made it clear they would put a hold on it.
I wonder what you would say were Sotomayor treated the same way by Republicans..?
how about the Party of NO WAY..?
it seems like they are about as astute as their vocabulary; NO..
sounds logical to me, and that’s about as simple as it gets.
We Should All JUST SAY NO.
AS IN NO MORE BS.
Cher did you realize that The national dept was $10,626,877,048,913.08 when George W Bush left office. that’s what it’s recorded as in WikiAnswers; and Fact Check Confirms it. WWWOOOWWWW……
MORE Than Ten TRILLIN Six Hundred BILLION DEBT Accumulated under a TAX and Slash Republican Congress. from a Three Trillion Plus SURPLUS when they Arrived.
and who is it that had a plan to fix america, Oh NOOOOOOOOOO.. it wasn’t GW Bush’s Republicans Was It ? OOOHHHHHH NOOOOOOO,,,,
couldn’t have been. Ohhhh NOOOOooo Wayyyyyy. (side-eye)
but then again “by fix” maybe they meant Spay and Neuter America.
I’d say they’ve accomplished that totally. all we need now is Sayrah to walk that no nuts dog.
and yes I left out tht o in trillin for effect, like trill..
you know “That Trill..” from Paul Wall – obtw he’s a Republican.
being true + real = trill
others say Too Real = trill
Trill is when you’re hustlin, trill is when you’re grindin
Trill is when you punch in that clock overtimin
Trill is when you keep it real one hundred percent
And hold it down for your team run your game full sprint
Trill is when you never fake, trill is when you real
Chasin after dollar bills, gotta get it how you live
Trill is when you hustle so you go out there and get it
Doin whatever you gotta do to make a meal ticket
- Paul Wall “Trill”
Harrison,
You know as well as I do that having majorities in the House and Senate means “squat” if procedural tactics allow the minority to block and delay everything that comes its way. You also know that the Republicans have made it crystal clear they will not offer alternatives to bills they don’t like. In fact, the Senate Minority Leader told Obama to scrap the House and Senate version of the health care bill, and start over. Do you call that bi-partisanship?
As for mocking Sarah Palin goes; she’s such a “cartoon” that it’s hard not to make fun of her silly antics. I suppose that the drubbing that the Republicans took last November has robbed them of their sense of humor.
As far as getting the facts right is concerned, can you really sit there with a straight face and say the Republicans are not being obstructionists, and are not using procedural tactics to block proposed legislation?
Funny how Republicans opposed the $787 billion stimulus but the Democrats passed that so fast nobody had a chance to read the bills. So, considering that is a FACT how can you say having majorities in Congress doesn’t mean squat? The facts say differently.
So you think it’s okay that right after Obama gave a speech calling for bipartisanship it’s okay for his spokesperson to mock someone from the other party? Is that really helping to build bipartisanship? You really think so?
Republicans oppose Obama’s plans just as Democrats opposed Bush’s. If you oppose something you work on your own plans. As I said, Republicans proposed their own healthcare bill but Democrats sent it to committee where it has sat since last May. They didn’t even let it come up for a vote. Who is saying “no” in that case?
And after Brown’s victory in Massachusetts I think it best to restart healthcare reform from the beginning. That is fair. Since Democrats won’t do that who is saying “no” in this example?
The GOP are seem to be enjoying their role as the peanut gallery, tossing insults and jamming anything they can into the spokes of government. They know they won’t pay a steep price for it. They say they have ideas on health care, but it’s just smoke. They had the White House for 8 years and both houses for 6, and they never talked about health care then, let alone do anything about it. Either they were blind to it being a future problem, or they didn’t care.
Now that it doesn’t matter, they insist that they care.
Their only idea is to cut the taxes of Wall St bankers, release all regulation, and ignite the economy by searching for another war in the name of defeating terror.
In the end, I agree with Harrison on one thing. The Admin. HAS to stop paying any attention to the vapid talking-head, Sarah Palin. She is NOT going to be a serious candidate. It will most likely be one of their young governors. But to respond to her in any way demeans them and adds to the GOP tactic of distraction.
Rich,
My response here may sound like others I’ve left on occasion. I agree entirely with you.
a) The GOP, always tight-knit, lined up bottom-to-belly this year. The ‘power object’ was to stymie Obama and any of his suggested reforms.
b) Obama, a reasonable man part of whose reform is to nurture a greater reasonableness in government itself, has not played a traditional ‘power-back-at-you’ game. I can only imagine how a Mario Cuomo might have barked back at them.
c) Part of me wants that reasonableness of Obama to set a new and successful example.
d) Part of me wants the obstructionists to pay a price higher than the value of their beautiful grandchildren.
e) What’s worse — and here I repeat myself, I’m sure, from other things I’ve mentioned on your blog — the Constitution not only allows this sort of behavior, it was specifically written to do just this!
Of course, the one thing the Founding Fathers couldn’t work out was the ‘association’ of legislators, that is, political parties and their internal allegiances not often parallel with the interests of the country at large.
f) What’s worse, part 2 — again, no doubt a variation of an earlier theme — lots of people with no power and only desperate, shrieking, ignorant, and potentially violent voices support these very obstructions! This is the kind of blind ‘democracy’ those same Founding Fathers feared.
If it were just you and me and a few of our well-considered friends, government here might be more wisely approached. But then, the resentment of those left out would call-out our privilege with no small good reason.
When I say governing — even by consent — is imperfect, my adjective is almost archly understated.
Harrison,
Considering that Bush left Obama with an economy that was about ready to fall of a cliff, don’t you think that quick action on the $787 billion stimulus bill was prudent? No, of course not; if Obama wanted it, the Party of “No” was against it. The last thing the Republicans want is bi-partisanship, because that may actually lead to something getting done. Obstructionist tactics is the path the Republicans have taken, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.
Bagger,
At the present time the Republicans think that their obstructionist tactics are working, and they really do not believe they will pay a steep price in November. They are playing “politics” at its very worst. Before the November elections, however, the tide will turn against them when the electorate sees that they have betrayed the trust of the American people.
I agree with you about Palin. She should be completely ignored, along with Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck.
TrulyFool,
History is filled with examples of governments that collapse into chaos, or that are unable to accomplish their business of governing, because they create a system that allows political “vapor lock” to prevail. These governments are eventually swept into the ash can of history, or are defeated by enemies that prey upon their weaknesses. The political “travesty” that has been perpetrated against the American people by the Republican Party has almost surely been noticed by our enemies. The inability of our government move ahead with legislation (or even political appointments) has weakened us considerably in the eyes of those who would do us harm. I fear that America is pulling apart at the seams.
There is plenty of proof the “stimulus” didn’t do anything but prevent states from reforming their budgets. As the money runs out, budgets are even more inefficient and job cuts will be worse. And the “stimulus” was filled with pork spending which helped nobody.
The BEST way to create jobs come from the private sector, not the public one. If you studied history and economics you would know this.
Bloated public spending only prolongs a bad economy because it is not targeted well and it is inefficient. It has also put us so far into debt that we will be dealing with inflation now thanks to it.
As I said, Obama and his party passed the “stimulus” in a matter of weeks. If the Republicans were so obstructionist I’d love for you to explain how this happened. You will not be able to explain it unless you admit that the Democrats control the show and can pass whatever they like, which disproves your entire point.
Harrison,
Since I approved this comment, I have only one remark to make. When you said to Rich, “If you studied history and economics you would know this”, I must admit that I took umbrage in the tone, not the content of your response. Just FYI, Rich graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, Magna cum laude, with a degree in Economics. He is too humble to say that, but being his wife, I felt compelled to step in.
We both enjoy the repartee you bring here and your responses are solid. Let’s just refrain from personal attacks, shall we?
Cher
Harrison,
If you think that the Democrats could “pass whatever they like” then you must be living on the ex-planet Pluto. It’s a well-known fact that the Republicans are obstructing absolutely everything they can, and they are doing it with a lot a procedural moves such as filibusters. The newspapers and the business analysis shows are filled with stories every day about how the Republicans have stopped government in its tracks with their recalcitrant behavior and failure to co-operate.
By the way, the aid given to states under the stimulus bill prevented millions of workers from being laid off.
Rich,
Again, I agree with you. The ‘vapor lock’ you mention is, for sure, bad government, and I do blame the GOP for it.
I think you understand that what I was bringing up was the shortsightedness of the Founding Fathers and their Constitutional compromises. What we’re seeing now is a kind of ‘Constitutional crisis’ — a minority, through its wranglings, is able to stop a firm and reasonable majority from acting.
This is not a matter of ‘minority protections’ at all. And certainly not the ‘will of the people’. You’re right. People here and abroad look at us, the presumptive ‘leaders’ and see our institutional confusion. They see it as weakness, not a system of fair checks and balances. And as it’s being played out now, it’s being played cynically by the Republicans out of sheer power lust.
I refrained from going so far as foreseeing a collapse. The reason I did not, and am still holding back from doing so now, is that I see quite clearly that vulnerability and I don’t want my voice to be even a potential element, small as it is, in serving to push anything to a ‘tipping point.’
The plug-uglies on the other side are pulling no punches and really have been lathered up since the days of Gingrich or before. Their shrill politics is the kind that leads to rash divisions, hatred, and violence. I don’t want any of that.
By the same token, it’s clearly not right to give in to their bullying. They may have parliamentary moves, but don’t we? They can threaten government paralysis, but can’t we stare them down?
Why not let them filibuster? Let them rotate one Senator after another until the lunacy of the obstruction gets made plain?
Isn’t there a way — this side of a ‘supermajority’ vote — to change the filibuster rule, lower the 60 to something more reasonable? It used to be 2/3. Someone saw the idiocy of that.
Explain to me then if the Republicans are so powerful with their “no” how Democrats passed the stimulus before anybody had a chance to read it and with total Republican opposition.
Trulyfool said: “Isn’t there a way — this side of a ’supermajority’ vote — to change the filibuster rule, lower the 60 to something more reasonable?”
If Democrats were deadly serious about passing ObamaCare, they could pass it without a single Republican vote right now by initiating “budget reconciliation.” This would, of course, permanently change the parliamentary rules that govern the Senate. The political caveat in this situation would be, “careful for what you wish for.”
Trulyfool,
The problem with changing the “filibuster rule” is that it takes a two thirds majority to do it. An attempt to do exactly that was recently proposed in the Senate, and immediately declared “dead on arrival” by the Republicans.
I like your use of the term “constitutional crisis”, because it accurately explains where America is at the present time. The Republicans have created a highly toxic political environment where they have used procedural rules to “thumb their noses” at the American constitution. For the first time in history, the Republicans have crossed the line from being the “loyal minority” to being a disaffected splinter group. In a sense, they have become like the terrorists; bent on destroying the constitution we all hold so dear.
VH,
To their credit, the Democrats are not willing to use the same tactics as the Republicans, and resort to procedural maneuvering to pass health care reform. The Republicans have made up their minds to obstruct the government from functioning as it was intended by the Constitution. The only way for the people of America to get their “business” accomplished is to remove Republican obstructionists from the political landscape.
Democrats don’t want to you the same tactics as Republicans… ha ha good one!
Over the weekend, Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York told the Wall Street Journal that if Brown wins, Democrats will race to cram the healthcare bill through while fending off Brown. “We’re going to have to finish this bill and then stall the swearing-in as long as possible,” Weiner said. “That’s our strategy, a hurry-up-and-stall strategy.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-goldberg19-2010jan19,0,3633276.column
But that was BEFORE Brown won. Dems tried it but didn’t have the votes. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t want to.
Give it up, Dems are worse that Republicans because they said they’d be better than the other guys.
Maybe one day you’ll realize this fact.
Harrison,
I have no comment on your first point, since the sentence doesn’t make sense.
If Anthony Weiner said what you have quoted, then he is wrong! I don’t think that health care reform should be achieved through back-room tactics or procedural moves. It should be achieved by Congress working together for the best interests of the American people.
Saying that Democrats are worse than Republicans, or vica versa, is just being silly! It’s this kind of mindset that does nothing but pit one American against another, and weakens us in the eyes of our enemies.
Rich, we’re in perfect agreement. Just one serious question on the very last sentence of your piece. Just HTF do we wake up the Democrats and get them to care?
Weiner is far from alone. Democrats in Congress generally agree with him. And since Democrats promised to behave differently but aren’t that makes them worse.
harrison what are you talking about.
Democrats promised to behave differently but aren’t that makes them worse.
this makes no sense at all ?
Let me put it to you this way then.
If Bob says that Mary was wrong in stealing $100.00 from work and then later we learn that Bob stole $100.00 from his job who is worse… the person who originally stole money or the person who said it was wrong to steal money then was caught stealing himself?