The President Is To Blame

In my most recent blog I suggested that Marco Rubio and followers proclaim a counterfeit version of the concept of democracy. Considering the environment of post-sequester posturing, that conclusion now seems too flattering. Instead of taking their responsibilities seriously, our Beltway politicians are turning up the volume of their blame game.

Certainly there are enough fault stickers to pass around, but the President at least does not have to do the shuffle dance. He has consistently posed as the champion of the middle class. The Republicans, on the other hand, are hiding behind the ambiguities of “individual rights” and “government interference.” They can’t admit they are championing the monied interests, so they stick with arguing the impersonal implications of government functionalism. Their social irresponsibility virus persuades them to dodge the fact that they came up short in the recent Election—an event that modulates the government engine. Congress’ job is to start the car and put it in gear. The President’s job is to step on the accelerator and steer. The passengers (us) sit in the back seat as our idling car rolls, pushed by the winds of passing traffic.

Am I missing something here? Congress, whose role is to make laws, supposedly is not responsible for failing to legislate. Rather, we are to believe, the President, whose role is to execute the laws submitted to him, is the culprit for not making Congress pass the resolving measures. Now that the spending cuts are law by Congressional default, listen to what the Republicans say caused the crisis—it is Obama’s failed leadership. Do the Republicans in Congress actually think the public, whose respect for Congress is a weak fume, will swallow this lame excuse for irresponsibility?

Apparently the President doesn’t know how to drive a car with a dead motor. Let’s try another metaphor. What we are seeing now is the election losers grabbing the bat by the club end and swinging the handle. In other words, having failed to rally their constituents they are turning their government functional argument around, hoping the public will blink and not notice the shuffle. Before March 1, the Republicans explained that the problem was “government spending,” and the Democrats are to blame because they just refuse to accept the Republican non-negotiable wisdom. And, combining my metaphors, the election losers now are beating the driver with their bat, thinking that will get the car started. We are asked to believe that the governmental dysfunction can be corrected by the uni-devise of cutting spending--knocking off some fenders--without putting gas in the tank. Well, we have the spending cuts now; let’s see if this starts the motor. Right!

If not, the Republicans are out of answers; and their insistence on tea-parting the issue will be naked in the street. If the gas level is low, let’s look around and see who is squirreling the supply. We are all in the same car. The fortunate don’t get more fortunate by pushing a few in the back seat out the door. This is not democracy at work.