No, they di-int! Yes, they did. Do Republican leaders have any ounce
of civility left? Obviously they don’t when it comes to dealing with
President Obama.
After the Democrats got what the President even called a “shellacking”
in the mid-term elections, Mr. Obama invited House and Senate leaders
from both parties to a meeting on November 18th and then dinner in his
home. Not just the White House, but dinner in the family living quarters
on the second floor of the mansion. Other than sleeping overnight in the
Lincoln Bedroom, that’s probably one of the most coveted invitations
you can receive from a president.
Mr. Obama said he was hosting the dinner to foster bipartisanship in
preparation for the January seating of the new 112th Congress, a session
in which the Republicans will have substantial control of the House,
and the Democrats, a slim majority in the Senate. The dinner was to be
a “can’t we all get along” affair.
But the Republicans snubbed the President of the United States! They
said they were too busy to attend, other pressing business and prior
engagements, you know. Republican leaders suggested November 30th
would be a date more suitable for them.
Get it? The Republicans will make the President wait. They will set the
agenda and its timetable. Can you imagine what the next two years are
going to be like?
I am sick of President Obama trying to reach out to the other party. He
has compromised, accommodated, negotiated and placated, and what
has he gotten in return? Nothing. Did he forget that Senate Republican
Leader Mitch McConnell said after the mid terms that his primary goal
is to make Obama a one-term president and repeal the hard-fought
health care reform law? President Obama should be too busy for him
on November 30th.
It was my understanding that people voted in the mid term elections for
change, but change, which would provide them jobs, keep them in their
homes, and make their lives a little easier. The majority didn’t say, “Give
us our country back,” as if Mr. Obama took it to some presidential
hideaway to perform unspeakable acts upon it.
President Obama–who admittedly hasn’t done the best job of
communicating with the American people about the value of his
programs–needs to take off his finely tailored leather gloves and hit
back at the recalcitrant Republicans with every presidential power
at his disposal. He needs to spend more time in the bully pulpit:
holding press conferences, going out on the hustings and making news
every day. He should no longer play “Mr. Nice Guy” to those who are
determined to bring him down and make the first black president in
history, a failure.
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