The Politics of Denial

While I applaud President Bush's newfound willingness to exercise his veto power in an effort to reign in government spending in a "better late than never" sort of way I feel reasonably certain that were the same bills and the same levels of spending passed by a GOP majority congress, they would be signed. It's not about the budget, the country or doing the right thing. It's about sticking it to the other party. And after years of enduring their insults and searing hatred, I can understand that impulse.

And if it takes petty partisan political bickering (he said redundantly) to slow down the massive expansion of the federal government - I'm all for it.

Of course both sides are playing, but the other side isn't bringing their A game. Democrats in the House are passing bills they know will either be killed in the Senate of vetoed by the President. They think they can do this and point to Republican obstruction and make the Republican's look bad. They have good reason to think that too. The Republicans did it to them - just ask Tom Dashel. They have just been totally ineffective.

Consider this comment from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

"For a President already lacking in credibility, it is dangerous to issue veto threats based on press reports alone," they said,

It sort of brings to mind that old saying about one piece of cookware making a racially insensitive comment about another.

When the Democrats took over a majority in both houses of Congress in the 2006 elections they road to capital hill with heady claims of a mandate. They were going to change the direction the country was going. They were going to end the war in Iraq. The were going to run the least most ethical congress ever.

What have they done? Well there was the minimum wage thing. Right after they passed that the grocery store where I shop passed added three additional self-checkout lines. But lets give them credit for at least passing something - we'll leave the side effects for another day. They did manage, with Republican support, to override one veto on one pork-bloated spending bill.

I don't think they have a lot of room to be critical of anyone's credibility.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 08:46 PM | No Comments | Add Comment