There is much analysis on the House passing the $819 billion stimulus package. Fellow TMV colleagues Michael Stickings and Jazz Shaw have posted their interesting thoughts here and here. But what I’m also seeing is how “crappy” attitudes won out over President Obama’s words of bipartisanship.
I’m not portraying President Obama as an innocent victim here. He’s the POTUS and carries tremendous power. I fault him for not being more proactive in delaying this stimulus bill in order for a better compromise. And I fault him for wanting to rush this bill through. Some experts, pundits, and politicians have made “delay” a dirty word in talking about the stimulus bill. But we are already in a economic mess and delay for a more well-rounded bill (with Republican and Democratic ideas and plans) would have outweighed the negatives. It would have looked like American leaders, as a whole, were willing to go out there together with a Economic Stimulus Plan For America. Now we have the biggest government bill of a lifetime pushed through with the familiar us vs. them motif.
Why play us vs. them in a bill so vital to America’s future? So that one side gets all the blame and another all the praise? Do we really want to see one political party go up in nuclear flames while the other gets raised on high? Do we want to see one idea set and worldview reign supreme without any differing thought? That’s what I feel many Democratic and Republican politicians want when in power (and probably a sizable amount of those outside the beltway). To reign supreme as THE WAY FOR AMERICA INFINITE. Sorry ladies and gentleman. To go that way is not what America is about.
When I look at former President Bush and President Obama, I see two strong similarities. Both have strong convictions. Both are men of faith (whether you like it our not). It led Bush into a vision of America: The Righteous Warrior. We were attacked. We will defend ourselves. And we will win with justice on our side. Righteous warriors throughout time have been reckless and headstrong. But I never thought Bush wanted war because he was bloodthirsty and evil. He believed strongly in that he was right. And that firm belief won him an early victory of bipartisanship (the Iraq War vote) that Obama has not won yet. But how can I compare war where lives are lost to a stimulus bill where lives… are… are…
lost
Yes, it is the same in many ways. And unlike war where we have brave volunteers who willingly put their lives on the line, economic hardship destroys more lives in ways that can make people less brave, more reckless, more depressed, more violent, less understanding, etc. Obama has strong convictions in his ability to unite. Make fun of that conviction or praise it. Doesn’t matter how we feel about that conviction. All that matters is that he believes it and he is the President Of The United States. As Bush was able to turn his strong conviction into tangible action, President Obama needs to do the same. He now has a choice: let the “crappy” attitudes of partisanship stomp on his conviction or, as we black folks are fond or saying, “break his foot off” in partisanship’s butt and steer this bill into the land of Democratic AND Republican ideas. Time to turn into a bipartisanship cowboy on this one, Prez. Dust that hat off and make it happen.
The stakes are too high to shoulder all the load President Obama and Democrats. Way too high.
I’m not complex. Don’t have time for all that. And all that complex stuff bad for the stomach. Just color me simple and plain with a twist.