Four Lessons for Barack Obama from George Washington (Paul J. Saunders) from the National Interest
"What the 44th president really needs is not to copy the 43rd or 42nd, however, but to look to the 1st: George Washington. ... here are four lessons from George Washington’s Farewell Address—a contemplative and self-conscious message to the country and to future generations. Obama would do well to ponder them."
3 comments:
I realize that this comment itself sounds partisan but is there RALLY a comparison between intra-administration partisanship and what we see now?
When, as former Sen. George Voinovich goes on record saying ... “If Obama was
for it, we had to be against it..... “He [McConnell] wanted everyone to hold the fort. All he cared about was making sure Obama could never have a clean victory.”
And they had a meeting at the Caucus Room with Frank Luntz, where senior GOP members worked out a plan on inauguration day, 2009, to repeatedly block Obama over the coming four years to try to ensure he would not be re-elected.
Hence, Cap and Trade went from being "market solutions" when Republicans promoted it, to "anti businesses Cap and Tax" when Obama shunned his base and reached across the aisle to promote a policy that REPUBLICANS had supported in the past.
Same with the ACA where , In 1993, the Consumer Choice Health Security Act (SB 1743) was introduced by Nickles, R- OK with 24 Republican co-sponsors. Main statement in the bill reference the mandate, Subtitle C: Employer Provisions: “Requires employers to: (1) withhold health insurance premiums from employee wages and remit such premiums to the employee's chosen insurer
Also in 1993, Chafee, R-Rhode Island, introduced the Health Equity and Access Reform Today Act (SB1770) with 18 GOP co-sponsors; which also called for an individual mandate??
When the whole strategy was that even as Obama reached across the aisle and the Democratic Congress made the necessary compromises, they would call it a "SOCIALIST takeover of the healthcare system", and parrot, "Not ONE
Republican will vote for it!!!"
If the opposition directly sabotages the administration, so that they can claim that he neither did what he was elected to do, and they demand polarization from their members, so that they can claim that he is the most polarizing president ever, even as his supporters accuses him of caving into the party that LOST the election....
Really, what is he to do?
I completely agree with your critique. When I pulled this column for posting I meant to provide an extended comment that echoes many of your themes ... and forgot to do that. I find Saunders' four "rules" stand on both a very selective reading of Washington's record and a very partisan (and inaccurate) reading of Obama's record thus far. Saunders simply turns a blind eye to the implacable opposition conservatives have presented from before Obama even took office. As a historian, I feel strongly that the Republicans will be vilified for their role in extending, exploiting, and politicizing the federal response to the Great Recession ... and so many other things in the last six yers!
Thank you.
If you had told me that after the crash of 2008, that these Republicans would have denied that the 'get government off the backs of business' policies failed, and that we need MORE tax cuts and MORE deregulation, and to obstruct the Marxist usurper, (who got over 50% of the vote),I would not have believed it.
And I enjoy your blog a lot, thank you for it.
Post a Comment