Posted on 11/05/2014 9:33:28 PM PST by Colofornian
On election night, TV talking heads watching the Republican wave/surge/tidal flow across the country earnestly looked at each other and asked if the new Republican Senate majority can work with the president and overcome the gridlock that has so turned off voters. Umm...what?
Yeah, I know Americans keep telling pollsters that they can't stand "partisan bickering" and really hate Congress for its inability to get things done. But there's a strong hint that they're regurgitating sentiments that all of those right-thinking pundits tell them that they're supposed to mouth. After all, those same Americans just handed control of the Senate and an expanded House majority to the political party that has stalled the president's appointees, challenged his policies, and attacked him at every turn.
Could it be that, kumbaya language aside, the electorate likes to see government frozen in its tracks? After all, President Obama's personal approval ratings are also in the toilet, and his signature policy—the Affordable Care Act—continues to evoke a mass gag reflex from the public and was specifically cited as a negative by almost half of voters in this election.
So, if American voters don't like Congress, and don't like the president, and don't like the major piece of legislation that was produced when Congress and the president last worked together, what evidence do we have that the public is looking for more close cooperation between the executive and legislative branches?
In fact, polling finds that Americans think government is too powerful and too intrusive, with trimming back the size of the state popular among the younger voters that everybody watches so closely. And if you want to restrain government, divided government has a good historical record of achieving restraint by accident, if not as a deliberate policy choice.
Americans don't like gridlock? Maybe they think they're not supposed to like gridlock. But they just voted for more of it. And they may well know what they're doing.
From the article:
Other 'gridlock' mantras by the media:
* USA Today's editorial board, reading the polling tea leaves going into the election, was already deciding one of its narrative mantras would be: No more gridlock On this Election Day, more voters now say they want compromise instead of unyielding confrontation.
* MSN.com picked up the narrative mantra...citing NY liberal Rep. Carolyn Maloney: Rep. Maloney: Voters have spoken, they… Rep. Carolyn Maloney, (D-NY), on the midterm elections.
* And here's MSNBC interview of so-called "Independent" Greg Orman (Kansas Senate opponent to Pat Roberts) -- who Joe Biden conceded on a radio interview on Election Day that Orman (had he won) would "caucus" with us...
Orman: Kansas voters want end to gridlock Independent Kansas Senate candidate Greg Orman joins Morning Joe to discuss how he could unseat three-term veteran Sen. Pat Roberts.
Grid lock? Harry Reid.
Didn’t the Republicans get kicked out in 2006 for reaching across the aisle?
Has it been that long ago that they forgot?
You see...this SHOULD be obvious to the media, which airs football & hockey & basketball games...but somehow...perhaps even purposefully...has chosen to be oblivious.
And a hockey goalie -- as long as he can keep an eye on where the puck is -- wants "help" ... wants other fellow defenders to help him defend that goal.
Or basketball...which is preferable...a bunch of wide trees in the zone with their limbs outstretched...or, open fast-break like lanes for the opposition to cruise thru?
I mean, what? Mainstream Media? You've never heard of the necessity of a good defense???
Praise God at times -- in light of our ever-encroaching omnipresent government -- for gridlock!!!!!!
I prefer the government stay the heck of out of our lives.
We’ve thwarted a good deal of it.
But there is a lot of work left to do to cut it down to size.
Gridlock works for me. Last night was about slamming on the brakes, not turning the keys over the the Republicans and telling them to put the pedal to the metal.
Yet another Liberal Idiot, yammering on in the shadows of relevance.
I prefer gridlock compared to the crap that gets enacted and called progress (the opposite of what it actually is). Crap that represents the wants of the lobbyists and globalists and is detrimental to the American citizens.
Bickering?? No need to bicker - just tell the won NOOOOOO.
After all, those same Americans just handed control of the Senate and an expanded House majority to the political party that has stalled the president’s appointees, challenged his policies, and attacked him at every turn.
Because those same American are not falling for this bullshit anymore. We know why things did not get done. First most of it should NOT have gotten done because it would have been bad for the Country. Then the tihings that should have been done never got voted on because of Harry Reid. So like I said not buying your crap anymore..........
Or as McConnell said, ““Let me be clear: there will be no government shutdown and no default on the national debt.”
Just show all your cards. Coming from someone who has wanted to be the majority leader since he was five. Supposedly he is a master of legislative rules and inner workings of the Senate.
They are so happy to show off how they can govern. As an American I find this repulsive. Show me what you are doing to promote freedom.
In other words, give Obama a blank check.
McConman might as well hand back to Harry Reid the keys while he’s at it.
These entrenched politicians seem to love the process more than the outcome. It is all a game of thrones to them. As for Harry Reid, I don’t see him going into the night quietly.
McConman, that is good; I was trying to think of a good nickname for him other than McTurtle.
Gridlock is good if you’re going the wrong direction.
Part of the reason conservatives go bad once they get to Washington, is the bias toward “getting something done”. No one ever went to Washington with the intention of stopping the government from solving problems. They all have the built-in bias toward “getting about the business of the American people” which can be exactly the wrong thing. The American people are supposed to be “getting about” their own business; the only thing Washington is supposed to do is referee the playing field. Thats it.
Its pretty sad when the constitution is considered “radical” instead of the law of the land.
This won’t hault Reid one bit....he’s well known to push ahead and say/do whatever is necessary, like Obama, to make it ‘appear’ he’s ready to work with the Republicans...when in fact both just set people up for the next take down.
Republicans had better be on their toes....neither Obama nor Reid or going to ‘stop’...they ‘re just going to change their plays.
I am with you, so I am enguarde too. This lame duck session will be dangerous for us and the country. I can only hope that this landslide will cause the remaining members of the dem senate to take their long knives out and force Reid out of his minority leader position.
But as BO said this afternoon, he showed that he was itching to act unilaterally bypassing the order of executive action, which is after a bill is placed on his desk.
““But what I’m not going to do is just wait” for the GOP to pass an immigration bill, Obama continued.
Obama also used his repeated promise of executive action as a threat, saying it should “spur” the GOP to pass a “comprehensive immigration reform” bill that he likes.
“I think it is safe to say I’ve shown a lot of patience,” he said, adding that an immigration-rewrite is his top second-term legislative priority.”
http://dailycaller.com/2014/11/05/obama-rejects-election-results-promises-more-of-the-same/
I think he has given us fair warning, he’s going to going to make us pay for our “obstructionism.”
You maybe right in anticipating what Obama will do to keep his socialist medicine. What a tyrant.
Do you think we have forgotten what freedom is if we allow him to outmaneuver us and settle for less than a complete repeal?
It’s good to be wanted.
However, I think this argument is faulty.
Gridlock is what we had. Gridlock was the Republican House standing in the way and Harry Reid bottling up the Senate.
What we have now is a Congress with an opportunity to start rolling back some of the changes of the past six years.
People don’t want gridlock. They want to throw the machine into reverse and get the hell out of here!
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