Republicans reaped what they sowed

The Republicans lost the 2008 elections fabulously. The Democrats took the presidency with 10 million votes and a 2:1 electoral advantage. Democrats also took the House with nearly 60 per cent of the seats and held the Senate with a theoretical 60 vote filibuster proof majority after Al Franken's election was certified.

The GOP was, in fact, as weak as it had been in decades. This fate was well-deserved. George W. Bush had doubled the deficit in his eight years as president. He also started an unjust and unnecessary war in Iraq that will cost the US more than a $ one trillion in life cycle costs.

Obama ran as a president who wanted bipartisan support. This was never to be. The GOP stone walled him from his first day as president. Obama never even got a presidential honeymoon. The Democratic Senate has now had to face a historic and record number of filibusters: more than 130 in the last two sessions of Congress.

No party will hold onto the House and Senate indefinitely. Rightardia wonders what the GOP will expect when the shoe in on the other foot. The extreme partisan politics of the GOP will certainly elicit a similar response from Democrats. Unfortunately the Democrat party is more like a collation than the homogeneous GOP. The Democrats have a corporatist conservative wing called Blue Dogs.

The GOP, on the other hands, has no formal organization of moderate Republicans. There are probably three to five Republicans in the Senate that will occasionally vote with the Democratic majority. There are as few Republicans in the House that are bipartisan. Was anyone surprised that the health care vote last night was partisan? Not one Republican supported either HR bill that passed last night.

What should the Democrats do? It seems all they can do is pass as many bills as possible using reconciliation. Drop any illusions about bipartisanship and pass as many bills as they can prior to the next election. Nancy Pelosi should continue to use the velvet gauntlet to move the nation forward.

Over time Rightardia hopes we hear less about health care and more about employment, workers rights, education and other progressive issues.

Nancy Pelosi was correct about health care. Many workers have been held hostage by employers because they would lose health care for their families if they quit their job. Many workers will now be able to start new careers and small businesses which will benefit our country. 

The immediate features of the Affordable health care Act of 2009 are common sense: preexisting conditions are eliminated, lifetime insurance caps are gone and children will be able to stay on their parent's insurance policies until age 26.

Obama has shown that he can be a transformational president and America is now capable of doing big things again besides starting fruitless wars. The Democrats should herald their political triumph with a series of public events around the country. They should also makes efforts to marginalize their GOP opponents as demagogues, nut jobs and extremists who prefer emotional arguments to ones that are factual.

The Party of No just got a big 'yes' from the Democrats. The Democrats need to pass more bills and refocus their energies on the other issues that are facing the nation. Rightardia is elated the health care debate is just about over.

Source: http://newsjunkiepost.com/2010/03/02/republican-obstruction-at-work-record-number-of-filibusters/

 

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