A Race to the Bottom

Obama insisted today that Congress pass a bill that would prevent wide spread suffering for many Americans that both parties can agree to, and then He and congress can focus on the items which they disagree.

Wait-a-minute, that wasn't today, that was last summer when Obama called for an extension of the middle class Bush-era tax cuts while they continue to debate the merits of raising taxes on the upper class (fast forward clip to about 8:30 for the specific part I'm referencing). What happened today was a complete role reversal, when the Republican dominated House brought up a bill that would have funded  the National Institute of Health (NIH), which had to put on hold a series of medical trials for the treatment of cancer that has 200 children now waiting on potentially lifesaving care.

Upon passage of this bill in the House, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid was asked if he would have the provision brought to the Senate floor to be voted on. His response raised a few eyebrows.

“Why would we want to do that?”

He also threw in a cheap shot questioning the intelligence the reporter who would ask such a question, mumbled something about how they've already addressed this issue. Then tried to explain that the House of Representatives didn't have the right to decide what the government spends money on (Double Checking Article I Section 7 of the Constitution, yeah, they kind of do). He also tried to compare Federal workers taking unpaid leave with children dying of a terminal disease.

In summary, this was potentially the worst press conference by a politician in the history of press conferences held by politicians, and he got through all of these points in just over a minute.

When millions of Americans are at risk of seeing their tax rates raising to a level that was still, by Obama's own admission, lower then when Obama took office. The Republicans buckled, the President got what he wanted, and as we all know, no discussions ever arose after the great fiscal cliff deal of 2013 about lowering tax rates for the wealthiest Americans. We are still waiting for the economic boom this was supposed to usher in. However, when hundreds of suffering children are denied a potential life saving treatment, holding on to the principle that just last year, when the stakes where that much lower, THIS is when Democrats hold firm. Ironically enough in the name of healthcare reform. Couple this with the Honor Flight incident where the White House denied a request that would have classified the visit as a First Amendment demonstration and avoided the first in what is now becoming several embarrassing displays of power and ignorance. Who is causing the suffering now?

If the last election taught us anything, it's that no matter how bad things get, no matter how horrible this President fails, his constituents will never abandon him. I personally feel that he is now exploiting this fact. He knows that both sides will suffer from this fiasco. He is making the calculated move that all this pain, all this suffering, all this stupidity, will drag down the republican side much more violently then it will the democratic one. Let's call it year round negative campaigning. It may work too because people like you and I are getting sick and tired of all of it. All of it! And the side that pays attention and is disgusted with all of it is a lot less likely to vote incumbent in 2014 then the side that seems to blindly follow and point blame to only half of Congress.