Our political Quote of the Day comes from NBC’s First Read, which nicely summarizes two tidbits that prove how America is now in an era where partisanship and personal political hatred trump policy preferences and the concept of the good of consensus and national unity. Read it and weep:
** It takes two: For all the questions and scrutiny President Obama has recently received when it comes to his stalled agenda — especially on the topics of budget and guns — it’s important to quote the immortal philosopher MC Rob Base: It takes two to make a thing go right. And Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), who partnered with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on the compromise background-check measure, admitted as much when explaining why that bipartisan gun-control amendment was defeated. “In the end it didn’t pass because we’re so politicized,” Toomey told editors from Digital First Media in an interview published Wednesday by the Norristown Times Herald, per NBC’s Mike O’Brien. “There were some on my side who did not want to be seen helping the president do something he wanted to get done, just because the president wanted to do it,” Toomey added. That also was the conclusion a recent New York Times/CBS poll: Americans largely retreat to their partisan camps, even if they overwhelmingly support background checks or a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. “Yes, I believe the Republicans should have voted for background checks,” a respondent told the New York Times. “But it’s like marriage. You stick with your wife no matter what, and you don’t just ditch your political party on one issue.”
What it tells us in particular about Republicans right now — which even some Republicans who aren’t Tea Party members or talk show hosts will acknowledge is:
a)if Obama wants something some Republicans will vote against it or oppose it to make sure he doesn’t get credit for it, even if it’s something the country needs and they favor, b)they’ll stick with their sports political team no matter what (unless there’s a movement on the part of talk show hosts and the ideological media to go after their sports political team, which will usually make the sports political team alter its course and stay in line).
Does this bode well for Amrica’s future? Not really.
On the other hand, First Read notes this is not totally unusual:
*** Partisan gridlock is the norm during divided government: Of course, this is hardly something that’s new when it comes to American politics. As one of us wrote yesterday, partisan gridlock — even on what would seem the simplest of issues — is the norm, particularly in times of divided government. The exceptions have come when at least one party has had an incentive to compromise. Think Bill Clinton signing welfare reform into law before his re-election, or the tax cuts under Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush (who doesn’t like tax cuts?), or maybe immigration reform this year. The exceptions have also come when it’s an absolute necessity to compromise. Think the Social Security fix during the 1980s, the debt-ceiling deal in 2011, and the fiscal-cliff deal at the end of 2012. But that’s about it under divided government. Conversely, the greatest legislative achievements have occurred when one party controls the White House and Congress — usually by overwhelming numbers. In the 1930s, as Congress was passing Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, Democrats held between 69 and 75 Senate seats, as well as 300-plus House seats. In 1965, during Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, Democrats controlled 68 Senate and 290-plus House seats.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.