In a journey through the nation’s major swing states, from the neon of Nevada, through the grain elevator towns of Iowa, to the soccer-van suburbs of Virginia, almost everyone I encountered wants politicians in the nation’s capital to put their differences aside and get something done. They don’t expect it to be easy. And they don’t expect law-makers to abandon their principles entirely.
What they do want is an effort to make progress on the most pressing issues of the day, from jobs to immigration to debt, without using politics as a baton to bludgeon opponents. They yearn for lawmakers to act with the same kind of urgency and civility that they do when solving problems around their kitchen tables and in their school board conference rooms….
…as Sam Castrogiovanni, a mechanic in Las Vegas for 20 years who has the grease under his fingernails to prove it, notes: “I could care less if some politician has a ‘D’ or an ‘R’ behind their name. I just want some results.”
I want a president who is open and honest about his past, who is honest about his religious preference, who has nothing to hide, who is honest about his past political experience or the lack of it, about his backers, and who is unquestionably willing and able to accept full responsibility for his administration’s foreign policy or lack of it, and who as Commander in Chief of our nation’s Armed Forces will back our field commanders to the hilt.
I want a president who will act to ensure the safety of our country’s embassies and consulates by assigning Marines and CIA operatives, SEAL team detachments, or other special forces to embassies and consulates in sensitive Islamic countries, and who will press for Status Of Forces Agreements which will include provisions for stationing these personnel as a permanent part of the staff. Nothing else will suffice. Benghazi must [b]NEVER[/b] be permitted to happen again, and if any Secretary of State must be sacked for not acting to prevent it, then so be it.
And one more thing: If you are the Commander in Chief, [i]you NEVER pass the buck down the chain of command, nor do you allow it to pass down from your commanders.[/i] I say this as a retired military officer.
Laissez-faire
“What they do want is an effort to make progress on the most pressing issues of the day, from jobs to immigration to debt, without using politics as a baton to bludgeon opponents. They yearn for lawmakers to act with the same kind of urgency and civility that they do when solving problems around their kitchen tables and in their school board conference rooms….”
Except that the country is divided on those issues. On immigration from throw out all the illegals to let them all in. The politicians reflect this divide and they represent irreconcilable world-views. The president will not be the president of all. He will in fact be the president of those who elect him. All the vitriol and hatred of the other side will not vanish simply because the election is over. You can’t portray people as evil and uncaring, enemies of the state etc. and expect to “kiss and make up” when it is over.
Obama is not my president and never will be.
My main thought in reading the article was that the Founding Fathers of America set up our system so that it was intentionally difficult to get things done, since it thwarted sinners from getting their own agendas through by robbing them of power they have in other systems of governance.
I am not sure many whom the article author spoke to understood this, but I for one am grateful for the anthropology that undergirded our founding because we need these checks and balances now more than ever.
So Kendall, if Obama is reelected and continues to issue executive orders, and czars and agencies continue to legislate via administrative rules, do you think the Congress will ever confront him over this, and if so, when? So far, he has been pretty effective in getting his own agenda implemented, even when he cannot get it passed through Congress.
I want a president that I can trust – not wonder what he is hiding. I also want one who holds the constitution up as something to guide him – not something to be gotten around.
I think that what we also need is a Congress who won’t hesitate to tell the President when he’s wrong and who won’t permit him to avoid the Constitution in getting his own agenda approved. In other words, [i]no Presidential fiat or decree.[/i]