Obama's State of the Union Boxes in Republicans

In his State of the Union address last night, President Obama focused mainly on jobs, and therefore, so have all the talking heads ever since. Getting the unemployed back to work is vital to America's economic and spiritual recovery, but he said something more important. Looking at Senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the president said "if the Republican leadership is going to insist that 60 votes in the Senate are required to do any business at all in this town -- a supermajority -- then the responsibility to govern is now yours as well." He boxed them in.

Mr. Obama understands that the American people are suffering from a pernicious bout of anxiety. They want something done about the economy, about the deficit, about the two wars in Asia, about the environment, and dozens of other issues. This explains both Mr. Obama's own election and the rise of the tea party movement. America feels like Peter Finch in the film "Network" back in 1976, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore."

For a year now, Mr. Obama and the Democrats have tried to do things about many of America's problems, rightly or wrongly. That is what the ruling party is supposed to do. The Republicans have said "no" to just about everything. They have been a party of obstruction rather than opposition. The difference being that the loyal opposition's duty is to reject the bad, improve the workable, and accept the good. They have not done this. The health care debate exemplifies this perfectly.

The GOP plan, which came out around Halloween, was more of a trick than a treat. The Congressional Budget Office examined the Republican proposals and discovered that it would help 3 million people get health insurance and cut $68 billion off the deficit over 10 years. The Democrats' plan, the CBO had said earlier, would cover 36 million and save $104 billion. In other words, the Republican plan was hardly constructive criticism.

With his words last night, Mr. Obama has told the Republicans that if they continue to be obstructionists, America's anti-incumbent mood will hit them in November. He's also signaled how the Democrats will run in those elections. The Democrats will run against the Senate Republicans and the filibuster that gives 41% a veto on legislation -- the "Do-Nothing Senate."

It doesn't have to be this way. Every democracy needs an effective opposition party to keep the executive in check. No democracy can afford a party of obstruction. The Republicans will face their first test when it comes to the jobs bill Mr. Obama requested last night. It's one thing to vote against "socialism" in medical care. It's quite another to vote against jobs for the unemployed. It's one thing to vote against bailing out Wall Street and quite another to vote against Main Street.

© Copyright 2010 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.

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