Bromance and Pragmatics

A confluence of recent events suggests that perhaps the “American middle” might just be beginning its struggle to find a voice in the cacophony of left vs. right. Unfilled judicial appointments remain caught up in the GOP juggernaut against the Obama administration, the Affordable Care Act is unable to find normal adjustments in the amendment process, and the Obama presidency snarls awkwardly at an IRS scandal that should have been discovered a long time ago and a singularly undemocratic assault on a free press under the guise of leak-sealing national security interests blemishes the incumbents. With the GOP-filibuster-roadblock in the Senate and the “block anything and everything that the Obama administration wants” mantra in the GOP-majority House, it is clear that the Tea Party is firmly in control of the Republican Party. Or is it?

To the Democrats, the thought of an extreme GOP presidential candidate in 2016 – a Ted Cruz or a Rand Paul – would be a gift from heaven. The hope that no rational “middle ground” Republican seems to be able to rise above the Tea Party gauntlet that defines the GOP nominating process today is a Democratic prayer answered. So what if between now and then, nothing changes and nothing important gets done without a crisis and a near-complete-federal-meltdown?! It’s a battle of slogans. The GOP has co-opted the word “patriotism” – once a sign of loving your country and now a word that defines Tea Party values – and the Democrats seem stuck in hoping that the other side will simply self-destruct. But who is really attempting to address Americans in the middle?

As outspoken and severely-unpopular-ultra-right-wing-Tea-Party-darling Michele Bachmann (not particularly liked by Republican or Democratic politicos) – with a limited prospect of House leadership and facing a tough battle against a Democratic challenger – leaves the 2014 mid-term race, signs of cracks are appearing in that Tea Party wall. A few bold Republican stalwarts, in and out of current elected office, are simply stepping forward to state the obvious.

“[Former GOP Presidential candidate] Bob Dole no longer recognizes the Republican Party that he helped lead for years. Speaking [recently] on ‘Fox News Sunday,’ he said his party should hang a ‘closed for repairs’ sign on its doors until it comes up with a few positive ideas, because neither he nor Ronald Reagan would now feel comfortable in its membership… ‘It seems to be almost unreal that we can’t get together on a budget or legislation,’ said Mr. Dole, the former Senate majority leader and presidential candidate. ‘I mean, we weren’t perfect by a long shot, but at least we got our work done.’… The current Congress can’t even do that, thanks to a furiously oppositional Republican Party, and that’s what has left mainstream conservatives like Mr. Dole and Senator John McCain shaking their heads in disgust…

“[W]hen the time came to actually govern, Republicans used to set aside their grandstanding, recognize that a two-party system requires compromise and make deals to keep the government working on the people’s behalf… The current generation refuses to do that. Its members want to dismantle government, using whatever crowbar happens to be handy, and they don’t particularly care what traditions of mutual respect get smashed at the same time. ‘I’m not all that interested in the way things have always been done around here,’ Senator Marco Rubio of Florida told The [NY] Times …  

“This corrosive mentality has been standard procedure in the House since 2011, but now it has seeped over to the Senate. Mr. Rubio is one of several senators who have blocked a basic function of government: a conference committee to work out budget differences between the House and Senate so that Congress can start passing appropriations bills. They say they are afraid the committee will agree to raise the debt ceiling without extorting the spending cuts they seek. One of them, Ted Cruz of Texas, admitted that he didn’t even trust House Republicans to practice blackmail properly. They have been backed by Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, who wants extremist credentials for his re-election.” Editorial Board, New York Times, May 28^th.

Meanwhile, in rather centrist New Jersey where extreme right wing politics just doesn’t resonate with the electorate, the “bromance” between Republican Governor Chris Christie and President Barrack Obama that began during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy seems to continue as the President returned to the Garden State to check on post-hurricane reconstruction. Reversing the GOP-trend of denying federal aid for Sandy victims, Christie delivered that aid to his constituents by apply pressure where the GOP would feel it most – getting mega-GOP Wall Street contributors to send an unequivocal message to the Republican leadership to stop the madness. New Jersey, and the entire Atlantic seaboard, got that aid.

Meanwhile, in late May, Obama and Christie appeared together again in Atlantic City: “This time, the pair took a stroll along the Point Pleasant boardwalk, paused to inspect an unfinished sand sculpture and tried their hand at the Touchdown Fever football toss, where Christie — not usually considered the more athletic of the two — won the president a stuffed bear by throwing the ball through a tire… ‘That’s because he’s running for office,’ said Obama, who missed all five of his throws. They high-fived after Christie’s successful toss.

“Once again amid a politically perilous moment, Obama came calling on Christie, whose embrace of him after the hurricane began a mutually beneficial relationship that violated any number of modern political taboos…  Scorned by many Republicans for boosting Obama’s reelection chances, Christie stood firm at the time, saying he welcomed the president’s support — including billions of dollars in federal aid. The payoff was capped [on May 28^th] when Obama returned to herald the storm survivors as well as the state and federal emergency response.” Washington Post, May 28^th.

Will more GOP-powerhouses step forward or will the party follow the cowardly House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell into their march to amplify their conservative/Tea Party credibility at any cost? While short-term, the GOP may indeed get its way to blast at government and stop Democratic policies without the slightest attempt to compromise, the tea leaves (hmmmmm…) seem to suggest that the longer-term prognosis for extremist policies may actually lead to a marginalization of the entire GOP… particularly as the demographics continue to suggest younger and non-traditional ethnicities will be the majority for the foreseeable future. Gerrymandering will eventually crumble as these trends simply overwhelm existing redistricting.

I’m Peter Dekom, and it’s time for our elected representatives to seek compromise and make our government work!