Norman Ornstein and Thomas Man, two congressional scholars, have said the following:
The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise, unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science, and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.
When one party moves this far from the mainstream, it makes it nearly impossible for the political system to deal constructively with the country’s challenges.
***Not to say that the Democrats seem to be much better these days but what else is Obama supposed to do? I'm just glad I live in Europe now.
I might add that in addition to the complete failure of the US to take any sort of lead on sustainability and alternative transportation and energy issues (which in my opinion is by far the most pressing need right now), the following list of what Obama will try to salvage:
ReplyDelete• Gun regulation: “I intend to keep trying, with or without Congress, to help stop more tragedies from visiting innocent Americans in our movie theaters and our shopping malls, or schools like Sandy Hook.”
• Health care: “But let’s not have another 40-something votes to repeal a law that’s already helping millions of Americans like Amanda.”
• Unemployment insurance: “But first, this Congress needs to restore the unemployment insurance you just let expire for 1.6 million people.”
• Minimum wage: “In the year since I asked this Congress to raise the minimum wage, five states have passed laws to raise theirs.”
• Job training: “It means connecting companies to community colleges that can help design training to fill their specific needs. And if Congress wants to help, you can concentrate funding on proven programs that connect more ready-to-work Americans with ready-to-be-filled jobs.”
• Immigration: “Finally, if we’re serious about economic growth, it is time to heed the call of business leaders, labor leaders, faith leaders, law enforcement—and fix our broken immigration system.”
• Tax reform: “Both Democrats and Republicans have argued that our tax code is riddled with wasteful, complicated loopholes that punish businesses investing here, and reward companies that keep profits abroad. Let’s flip that equation.”
And surely there's plenty more than that "short" list.