Boy howdy, the Villagers are restless today. From Ezra Klein's declaration that "Obama has broken American politics" to Ron Fournier's declaration that an executive order granting amnesty to immigrants would be the equivalent of a nuclear bomb in American politics, it seems that they've got far too much time on their hands and a distinct shortage of analytical skills.
I'll get to young Ezra, but let's start with Fournier's latest bout of angst over our alleged divisive President. On Fox News yesterday, Fornier said this:
"The fundamental reason he became president was he was promising 'there's no red state, there's no blue state. I'm going to bring the country together. He's been a polarizing president and this would be a nuclear bomb that would blow open and make this country even more divided in a way that most Americans just don't want," said Fournier.
News flash for Fournier: Nothing Barack Obama does or does not do will suit at least half of this country. Also? The man is not Jesus.
The execrable Jonathan Karl posed this question to President Obama during a press conference yesterday following the US-Africa Leaders Summit:
“Does it bother you more to be accused of being an imperial President, pushing those limits, or to be accused of being a do-nothing President who couldn’t get anything done because he faced a dysfunctional Congress?”
Gosh, Mr. President. Does it bother you more to be accused of beating your wife, or barred from blunt objects to do it with? Or as Tommy Christopher phrased it, "Are you a dictator or just a pansy?"
Ezra Klein said virtually the same thing yesterday during his substitute gig on Chris Hayes' show and again on his column on Vox.com. Ezra did not speak to the question of immigration, but he did speak generally of how Obama "broke politics" and made them more divisive than ever.
Fournier is just serving as a proxy for the right wingers working the refs at this point. But the larger question of exactly who caused the country to be ungovernable seems to escape these guys.
If Obama had just worked with Republicans, there wouldn't be this hostility and division.
See how that works? It's Obama's fault for not working with Republicans! So what if they're hell-bent for leather on obstructionism. If he had just had a few more gladhanding dinners at the White House, they might have climbed on board. Never mind that they declined every effort the President made in that regard, even bowing out of state dinners rather than be perceived as being social with the black guy in the White House.
That reasoning is the same reasoning serial wife beaters use. If only she hadn't made me angry, I wouldn't have had to hit her. Kevin Drum:
What Fournier is saying is that President Obama shouldn't do anything that might make Republicans mad.
If only, if only, if only.... Because making them mad will force them to abuse the entire nation while bathing us in another national right-wing hissy fit.
F*ck that with a hot poker, and the Villagers who play that game. It's time for some brutal honesty here, and that starts by stopping the farce that a little bit more reaching across the aisle would get something done.
First we call out the obstructionists by name for what they have done. They own a government shutdown, a near-default on our debt, a downgrade to our credit rating, and the ungovernability that is this country right now. THEY OWN THAT.
Then we run them out of town.
