Every day for the next seven days I'm going to present one reason why you should vote for Obama and the Democrats in Congress.
Today, I'm going to talk about why you should vote AGAINST the Republicans. The next six days will all be reasons to vote FOR the Democrats.
The reason you shouldn't vote Republican is that for the past four years they have pursued the one of the most cynical Congressional strategies of all time. Simultaneously, Mitt Romney has pursued one of the most cynical Presidential campaign strategies of all time.
Congress
In Congress, the Republicans have basically voted No on every possible bill or item that has come up. In the House, they've voted No. In the Senate, they've filibustered first, then voted No. Since the Democrats only had a filibuster-proof majority for a couple months, the result is that almost nothing has been done.
To casual political watchers, this might seem like what the minority party always does, but it's not. The minority party usually blocks SOME things, and pushes back hard against many others, but usually the goal is to get the majority party to compromise and move their policies somewhat towards the minority's position. This way the necessary work of governing gets done, and the minority gets it done at least a little their way. This is the way Democrats and Republicans have done it for decades. Even the Republican congress under Bill Clinton did it this way.
For the last 4 years, however, the Republicans have tried to block EVERYTHING. This was an all-new approach, spearheaded by Eric Cantor. The entire point of this, and this is where the cynicism comes in, was to be able to say that Obama didn't get anything done during his term, and that it was Obama's fault. They INTENTIONALLY did things that they knew would hurt the American people in order to complete their strategy.No Congress has done this to this extent.
Not only did they do this in general, they did it at a time of economic crisis, when the country really needed the government's help. But they put their political goals above the crisis.
They blocked stuff that they were against, but they also blocked stuff that they used to be in favor of! The most obvious example is the health care bill. Not only was it the same as Romney's bill in Massachusetts, it was the same as a bill that the Republicans in Congress wrote in the 90s. This happened again and again--they voted against things they used to be for, just to say Obama wasn't doing anything.
They even blocked the confirmation of judges that were of such low level that Congress usually confirms unanimously--no one ever bothers to block this kind of judge--just to make it look worse for Obama. It's important to understand that when Obama came into office, there was already a judicial crisis because of how few judges were sitting on the bench. This is something that conservative Chief Justice John Roberts has talked about. But the Republicans have made the crisis worse.
They did this assuming that most of the American people don't pay attention to the everyday details of Congress until election time, and so they would get a free pass---they could act worse than any Congress ever, but if no one noticed, then they would get the result they wanted (saying Obama didn't do anything) and so they would do well in the elections.
Even more cynically, they kept putting out press releases saying it was Obama that wouldn't compromise, even though he was sending them bills that had tons of Republican ideas in them already. They knew that since one of Obama's strongest points was his willingness to be bipartisan, then if they said he wasn't doing it (even if he was), that most people wouldn't bother to check the details and would assume that what they said was true.
That's what I mean when I say this is the most cynical Congressional strategy of all time. If they win, it will reinforce the idea that this kind of behavior is perfectly acceptable and effective. It will become standard operating procedure. For the sake of basic governance, we can't let this happen.
Romney
Mitt Romney, meanwhile, was running in the primary against the most right-wing slate of Republican candidates that there has been in decades. To win, he had to make himself look even more right-wing than them. So he said all kinds of crazy stuff that made him seem like a super-extremist. If you're more extreme than Gingrich, Perry, or Bachman, you are insanely extreme.
But then, as his campaign manager famously said, he shook up the etch-a-sketch and turned into a super-moderate when it came time for the debates. He said things that were 180 degrees from what he said before, and completely denied that he said those previous things, even though they were right there on Youtube.
Again, part-time political watchers may think this is standard. People in both parties do tack to the left or right during the primary, and back towards the center during the main election. BUT, no one ever has done it to such an extreme, and so obviously, as Romney. He just totally ignores everything he is on the record saying.
This is the most cynical Presidential candidacy strategy I've ever seen. I'm not even talking about his actual policies. His strategy of saying whatever people want to hear is unheard of to this degree. Just as with the Republicans in Congress, if he wins, then that will reinforce the idea that this is totally fine and it will become standard operating procedure for everyone in the future.
To sum up
Republicans in Congress have blocked everything, even stuff they used to be in favor of, and even stuff they know would help the economy in crisis, solely in order to say that Obama has done nothing. They have done this because they assume that no one pays attention to Congress on a daily basis. If they win, they will keep doing it. This would be a horrible precedent for basic governance.
Romney has shape-shifted to an extreme degree, saying what Republicans wanted to hear to a ridiculous extent in the primary, and then becoming ultra-moderate, contradicting everything he said before, in the assumption that no one pays attention to the primaries. If he wins, everyone else will do this too, and political races will become even less honest than they were before. Politics has always played fast and loose with the truth, but never like this. His policies may or may not be scary to you, but to not even being able to know what he really believes should be really scary.
So I am asking you to show Romney and the Republicans that we have been paying attention. Don't reward their incredibly cynical strategies. Don't make these cynical strategies the way of the future. Vote for the Democrats or vote for the third party of your choice.
Finally, I'd like to point out that I was a registered Republican for 15 years and am now an independent (partly because of the reasons above), so I'm not saying this as a Democratic loyalist or partisan. I've happily voted for Republicans, Democrats, and various third party candidates for years. But right now, I think the Democrats are the best option by far.
Tomorrow's rant will be on Obama and the Democrats' obvious advantage when it comes to the role of science.
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