We may be at an interesting inflection point.
- Large majorities have had it with Congressional dysfunctionality.
- Influential Republicans like Mitch McConnell are recognizing the above and view it as a threat to their party.
- Reasonable conservative voices are writing smart pieces that seem to be reaching for hybrid positions on social and economic issues. See here and here, for example.
- The latest debacle -- the fight to extend unemployment insurance and the payroll tax cut -- appears to have demonstrably hurt the Republicans and helped the Democrats (especially the president), and one might expect that ensuing fights will redound similarly, i.e., the public appears to be internalizing the meme that the Democrats are fighting for the middle class while the Republicans are fighting for the rich. Politically, this is a dangerous possibility for Republicans, especially in an election year.
Don't get me wrong -- I'm not suggesting a Kumbaya moment is in the offing. There are still irresistible forces in play here; the Tea Party members of Congress are, I suspect, if anything, even more pissed off and ready to wreak more havoc when they get back. A wounded tiger is a dangerous tiger.
The Republican candidates are also busy fanning these flames.
But these forces of negativity can only breathe if they have the oxygen of public and media support. If they become widely viewed as a small, angry minority selfishly blocking the rest of us from the pragmatic approach to meeting the challenges we all face, they will become increasingly ignored and irrelevant.
Kind of like what Bob Dylan was talking about here.
We thus may look back at this moment as one when the hyper-partisanship undermining our democracy began to crack. Or not. Either way, you can read about it here on my blog.
Happy Christmas and Seasonally Adjusted Greetings!
This post originally appeared at Jared Bernstein's On The Economy blog.
We need less Grover Norquist pledges and more American patriotism to keep our country strong and healthy.
Why don't you crow a little more when it is extended longer. Oh yea, it won't be because of your over the top politicization and celebration.
If this were the NFL, you would definitely have drawn a 15 yard penalty!
Absolutely true. For me, if the Republicans continue any longer on their purely obstructionist path, the party deserves to die. It's that simple. End of story.
Well, GOLL-Y!! He was the one who SINGLE-HANDEDLY started ALL of this congressional BS w/his declaration that the re'Thug'licans #1priority is to prevent our 1st black President from succeeding AT ALL COSTS!
And it was HIS obstruction of EVERY SINGLE THING that Obama proposed that turned 9 out of every 10 Americans against congress.
I can tell you from my personal experience of communicating w/regular Americans of all political views that this distrust of congress runs to THE BONE!
OCCUPY CONGRESS!! NEVER vote republican AGAIN!!
Many on this site confuse the chicken and the egg. Fox is big because that is how people think, not the other way around. Sorry about that!
I think rather the left is upset because MSM is only 90% behind the democrats and left wing candidates. Amazing with that support that the Dems are still poised to lose. I guess the truth wins out!
Hyper partisanship is not necessarily a bad thing. It does provide - as you point out - a clearer view of where the lines are drawn, and who stands for who on issues.
Public opinion polls about Congress show one thing: both parties are worshipping too much at the altar of the far right for the comfort of the vast majority of Americans.
God bless protestors, whistle blowers and bringers of light.
Happy Solstice and Merry "Christ"mas
and the end of the long night
AWARDS OF THE YEAR:
"The Mother Earth Award of the Year" goes to all those organizations, groups and individuals who are dedicated to protecting and preserving the earth's web of life.
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The American people when they realized they had no say in what their government does or doesn't do created the 99% Occupy Movement and richly deserves "The Patriots of the Year Award."
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The U.S. Congress earned "The Nero Fiddled While Rome Burned Award of the Year."
Paridigm Shift?
Commom human spirit communing with the help of the internet?
Gutenburg 2.0 ?
The Democratic Party and President Obama are firmly center right, and the liberal and progressive wing of the Party is now so small it could be drowned in Grover Norquist's bathtub. If there is anything ahead that looks remotely like bipartisanship, it will be the result of Democrats becoming even more Republican.
A little embarrassment over a really minor political loss will not change Republicans any more than a 2-month extension of a middle-class tax cut -- woo hoo! -- proves that Democrats are surging.
The only thing that's going to change this system is to to get corporate money out of politics.
If the Republicans are so foolish as to nominate a kook such as Gingrich or the poster boy for the one percent (Mitt Romney), whose core principles wash out to mean that corporations must be free to exploit the mass at will, then it's the GOP's funeral.
If Jefferson saw the sad state of the intelligence of voters, he would be rolling in his grave!
When I read posts like this I know we are doomed to fail!