McConnell, Stewart and the Line Between Policy and Insanity

Mitch McConnell had to say it – after all he is the leader of the Republicans in the Senate, and they are positioned to win some electoral advances in the Senate and take over the House tomorrow. We will see how it goes on November 2nd,  but as the Republican leader he needs to set the mood. Cannot blame him for that. So, what does he say?

“…the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president…”

Now, to be fair, McConnell is in election mode and he tempered his remarks by suggesting that if Obama were to do a “Clintonian backflip” he could meet the Republican senators “halfway.” The message to Obama – move towards us, and we will work with you; don’t, and we will not. Electoral politics? Bravado in the face of a certain victory?

On the contrary, what we see from McConnell, Kasich in Ohio, Barbour in Mississippi and other standard-bearing Republicans is a relentless push to not just defeat the president’s agenda, but scuttle any reasonable opportunity to achieve anything worthwhile. And to what purpose? Because the Republicans have the magic bullet to solve all of our problems? Clearly, no. No, simply put, they are bent on taking back the power and will do so by any means necessary…even courting and encouraging the growth of the frantic Tea Party legions. There are endless calls about budget measures, spending cuts, etc, etc. Just be sure, gentlemen, that when the budget cutting begins you start with a realistic approach to the so-called “Bush tax cuts”  – in other words, rescind the tax cuts for those making more than $250K. While you are at it, be sure to carefully look at the budgets of your own pet projects before attacking noteworthy programs that actually help this country.

McConnell’s statement was what Jon Stewart was really talking about during his closing remarks at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear held this past weekend in Washington DC:

http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:363864

While analysts can criticize the rally as political in nature, the same criticism can be used against Glenn Beck’s rally earlier in the year. By their very nature the rallies were political since they involved people and the discussion of ideas and policy. So, let it be. While many criticisms have been directed towards the Rally, Stewart’s closing remarks exposed the “insanity” of McConnell’s comments. As Stewart suggested, certainly we ought to be able to debate, and debate we should. We all have our differences, and those differences are not small. But use the debates and the differences to build something better – do not just resist because the “other side” is different. That only brings out the worst in our society, and leaves the terrain for debate open to the most radical and destructive voices. That’s the message. Debate, don’t resist. Every day we see how this works outside of the Beltway. People do it every day. It’s the difference between developing policy and making progress, and driving us all insane with the bickering.