Working Together
by David Atkins (“thereisnospoon”)
James Fallows at the Atlantic reiterates what must be said about the upcoming jobs debate:
An objective observer must of course conclude that in fact there is no way “to put American back to work that both parties can agree to,” because not agreeing is, for today’s Republican leadership, a paramount goal.
It is admirable, even touching, that the President of all the people states his faith that “both parties can work together to solve our problems.” But can he actually “still believe” this? Based on what vote? By what Republican? On what bill? At what point during Obama’s time in office? It is hard to imagine that he has not noticed the real-world evidence. So if he has observed reality and knows that no matter what he proposes the GOP simply will not sign on, what’s the next move? And lot depends on whether and when the “Mr. Reasonable” strategy pays off.
Remember that this discussion comes in the context of the admission by a longtime Republican staffer that the GOP is intentionally trying to destroy the very notion that government even can work together:
A couple of years ago, a Republican committee staff director told me candidly (and proudly) what the method was to all this obstruction and disruption. Should Republicans succeed in obstructing the Senate from doing its job, it would further lower Congress’s generic favorability rating among the American people. By sabotaging the reputation of an institution of government, the party that is programmatically against government would come out the relative winner.
A deeply cynical tactic, to be sure, but a psychologically insightful one that plays on the weaknesses both of the voting public and the news media. There are tens of millions of low-information voters who hardly know which party controls which branch of government, let alone which party is pursuing a particular legislative tactic. These voters’ confusion over who did what allows them to form the conclusion that “they are all crooks,” and that “government is no good,” further leading them to think, “a plague on both your houses” and “the parties are like two kids in a school yard.” This ill-informed public cynicism, in its turn, further intensifies the long-term decline in public trust in government that has been taking place since the early 1960s – a distrust that has been stoked by Republican rhetoric at every turn (“Government is the problem,” declared Ronald Reagan in 1980).
The media are also complicit in this phenomenon. Ever since the bifurcation of electronic media into a more or less respectable “hard news” segment and a rabidly ideological talk radio and cable TV political propaganda arm, the “respectable” media have been terrified of any criticism for perceived bias. Hence, they hew to the practice of false evenhandedness. Paul Krugman has skewered this tactic as being the “centrist cop-out.” “I joked long ago,” he says, “that if one party declared that the earth was flat, the headlines would read ‘Views Differ on Shape of Planet.'”
The GOP position is clear: make sure that the government is as functionally inept as possible, even if it means failing to agree on which day of the week it is, when the President can give a speech, or what color the sky is. Forget about the ideological differences, which are very real and very stark. Even if there were no serious policy disputes between the parties, it would be up to the GOP to subterfuge and sabotage the ability of the government to function insofar as possible.
That’s obvious to everyone in Washington outside of the cocktail pundit class circuit. And it’s obvious to everyone in the activist community who is paying almost any attention to politics.
It’s hard to believe that President Obama actually thinks that the GOP will agree with anything he does. Which leaves intelligent analysts to speculate that he is attempting to score points with low-information “independents” who supposedly think highly of compromising any and all principles for the sake of compromise itself.
If that theory is correct, we’re left with only two options: 1) Obama is wrong, and the only option left for saving the country from an insane GOP is all-out hyperpartisan ideological warfare; or 2) Obama is right, in which case the “can’t we all just get along” whims of the lowest-information voters in swing states control our national future.
If the former, nearly the entire pundit class is dead wrong about everything and should be replaced for the sake of democracy. If the latter, the pundit class is functionally useless at doing their job to inform the public about crucial issues, and should be replaced for the sake of democracy.
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