Who really wants to solve the problems now?

Electoral politics is important in the natural order, but when winning the next election become more important than the safety and well being of the nation, politics will have driven us over the cliff’s edge. And that is where we may be today. When Mitch McConnell says that the most important agenda for the Republican Party is to insure that Obama is a one term President, political skullduggery has the opportunity to triumph over the well being of the nation.

Perhaps the major reason why the current manufactured debt cap debacle has not yet been solved, is because the Republicans do not want it solved now, and will do everything possible to see it stays unsolved. It is to their advantage to see that the argument is reignited a year from now, prior to the 2012 election. McConnell and crew know that if they can delay the debt cap debate until next year it would almost totally occupy President Obama’s attention, thus making progress on the recession, jobs and the housing crisis difficult. This paired with a lack of serious progress in getting us through the current economic pit, enhances the chances of a conservative victory next Fall.

If solving the current problems is good for the country it may be bad for the Republicans. The strategy therefore, seems to be to let these critical issues drag on, crippling even further the economy and providing an additional weapon to use against the President. If the GOP won’t let it be solved, that means they have stockpiled ammunition to use against an Administration that cannot solve it without their serious negotiated support. Here may be one of the most cynical political ploys in all American history. No doubt the Republicans want to get us beyond these two vexing issues as much as the Democrats. They just don’t want them solved now.

On the other hand, the Democrats fumbled around for the first two years of the Obama presidency, never really looked at the mounting deficit, and didn’t get agitated about it until the new gang of conservatives swept into the House of Representatives. What is more, instead of gritting their teeth and pushing through a health insurance bill that really solved the problem, they patched together a law which at best is only a bandage on the national wound.

Now they have backed themselves into a corner, and their inaction may result in neither of the major problems—extending the cap and getting out of this dismal economic pit—being resolved before the next election. They may want to solve these problem now but have blown the opportunity.

So we are stuck between a party that doesn’t want to move the nation ahead unless it can be on their watch, and a party that has badly misused its opportunities, even if it desperately hopes to generate a brace of short-term solutions. My guess is on balance the American people ought to be encouraged to side with the bunch that wants to get the debt ceiling fix solved now and also wants to get a serious start on righting the economy.

In the meantime people by the thousands will lose their homes, the unemployed will continue to suffer, corporations will continue to hoard trillions of dollars, and for most Americans the dream of a brighter tomorrow will remain clouded over.
Charles Bayer
candwbayer@verizon.net