While some of President Obama’s policies can be reasonably criticized, based on their legislative actions and stated goals, I do not feel congressional Republicans currently present a practical alternative.
It is true that Obama has not followed through on all of his campaign promises.
For example, he has not closed Guantanamo Bay or ended the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but these discrepancies are, if anything, more similar to policies favored by conservatives for years during George W. Bush’s presidency and Republicans presently in office have not advocated changing them.
But the real issue is that while Republican politicians complain about almost every decision Obama makes, they have no real suggestions for an alternative.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that his primary goal is to make sure Obama is a one-term president, and recently reaffirmed that position on Fox News Sunday.
Such blatant prioritization of politics over doing what’s best for the country by top Republican leadership clearly demonstrates the party’s problem in its modern incarnation and the fallaciousness of claims to Lincolnian legitimacy.
Disregard for the interests of the country in favor of playing politics can also be seen in legislative actions undertaken by Republicans since their victory last November.
One of the first things Republicans did following the election was to demand an extension of the Bush tax cuts, which they got as part of a deal when Obama signed the bill into law in December 2010.
Subsequently, however, Republicans have done little else except to complain about government spending and deficits, despite the famous statement that one-time party leader former Vice President Dick Cheney allegedly told former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O’Neill: “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.”
Most recently, Republicans stalled the approval of a debt ceiling increase, demanding various budget cuts, and presumably, if Senator McConnell is to be believed, specifically cuts that will undermine Obama’s popularity and reelection prospects, while flatly refusing to consider tax increases of any kind.
A deal to raise the debt ceiling has now been reached, but only at the last minute—even though such a deal was essentially inevitable from the start because of the consequences that would result if nothing was done.
A Pew Research Center poll conducted after the announcement that a compromise deal had been made showed that 72% of Americans thought the entire debt ceiling debate “can be summed up in words such as ridiculous, disgusting, stupid, and frustrating.”
Republicans in congress are showing that they know how to play games, but they have so far not shown any initiative towards creating real solutions to the nation’s problems.
So while Obama can be criticized on some things, the most valid criticism is really that he has not been loyal enough to his base, and not that the other side has got a better plan.
