There they go again. Both Republicans and the White House are shirking
what remains of their constitutional duties to represent the will of the
people and actually come to agreement on the toughest issues facing
this nation, and now they’re squabbling over when the president will
give yet another speech? While it appears they’ve worked this out and
let the president have his day in the sun, it’s another example of the
sheer dysfunctional nature of our current leaders.
Set aside for the moment the fact that all this president does is SPEAK. There are no actions coming from either him or his so-called economic team. He went around the country on a bus to listen to people tell him what he already knew — that they’re out of a job.
{mosads}Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) again missed a golden opportunity to ease tensions with the White House, prove that he is the bigger man in these tenuous discussions, and set the table for what everyone knows will be a difficult season of negotiations as the so-called supercommittee convenes.
So Obama wants to give a prime time address. Let him! What political damage can he possibly inflict, Mr. Speaker? It’s not as if your pollsters are telling you his popularity will meteorically rise. If past is prologue, this will be another dud of a speech.
Remember the last joint session? When the president gave some (lame) speech on how healthcare will pull this economy out of recession and save the country? Well, it didn’t happen.
The biggest jolt Obama’s ratings have had this year is when we got Osama bin Laden. Would anyone have wished that didn’t happen just to keep Obama down?
Give me a break. When is someone on Capitol Hill going to start acting like an adult and force this president to either engage on real deficit reduction and economy growing or just shut up?
Thank the good Lord the House Republicans didn’t try to salvage the GOP presidential debates as a legitimate reason for postponing Obama’s address. If anything, frankly, I wish the candidates would be MORE engaged on these matters. Flex some presidential heft for a change and push yourself out there on how we should address these problems. Or here’s an idea — at least lay out some principles that both sides should bear in mind when negotiating. Or try to be the Mediator in Chief early by saying they ought to get in a room and stay there until a decision is reached.
And by the way, if you’re going to offer a reason on why the leader of the country and the free world can’t address a joint session of Congress, please don’t blame security. What a lame excuse.
We have some big weeks ahead of us, Congress. Let’s keep the amateur hour to a minimum for a change.