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(FinalCall.com) – What will happen the day after the 2010 elections and the results are in? If the political clashing and shouting matches that have followed Barack Obama taking office are signs, America can look forward to more acrimony, more strife, more insults, more division and more leaders playing on fear to manipulate people and wield power in Congress and state legislatures around the country.
Few recent elections have been as acrimonious and ugly and inflammatory rhetoric may be at an all-time high. Compromise is a dirty word and the political leaders are at such odds that it took comedians to draw some 250,000 people to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and call for a return to sanity and civil discourse Oct. 30.
Slogans like “don’t retreat, reload” and questions about whether the president is really a citizen show how crazy things have become in the United States.
›Voices of reason are drowned out and it seems the louder the voice and the more extreme the position, the more people seem to listen or the more media airtime seems to come.
Tea Party loyalists clamor about taking the country back and Republicans seized on that sentiment while repeating accusations that the president is a tyrant and government is out of control. Though most Americans would be pressed to define the words and why they matter, President Obama has been called a Marxist and a Socialist. One “respected” GOP leader accused the president, whose father was Kenyan, of having a Kenyan anti-colonial mindset–playing again to the narrative that the president is not a true American.
Though the president ran on a platform to clean up Washington, D.C. and pursue politics that put the country first, he hasn’t gotten very far.
Actually what he has gotten is called a tyrant and portrayed as someone who is jeopardizing the country’s future.
The GOP harped on a remark by the president, a day before midterm congressional elections, who urged Latinos not to kowtow to enemies of their political issues and to make a strong showing at the polls. The president quickly backtracked saying he should have used a different word, perhaps opponents.
“Sadly, we have a president who uses the word ‘enemy’ for fellow Americans, fellow citizens. He used it for people who disagree with his agenda of bigger government,” House Minority Leader John Boehner declared in prepared remarks before an election speech in Ohio.
Interesting that Mr. Boehner finds such language objectionable when there seems to have been no limits on insults heaped on the president and no tradition of decorum that is inviolable–remember the “You lie!” outburst from a South Carolina congressman during a State of the Union address in January 2010?
Or do you recall the number of Republican lawmakers who would not simply say, “Yes the president is a citizen,” or “Certainly the president is a Christian” when both these questions arose?
There seems to be no limit to what politicians will say or do simply to stay in office–so the GOP stuck with the politics of no, simply opposing Democratic policies, and the Democrats were too afraid to decide on and move an agenda that they felt was good for the American people. Instead of bringing change based on principles and national needs, the Democrats straddled the fence and stood for virtually nothing.
Will things get any better? Not likely.
“Gross vanity, greed, lust and inordinate self-interest have divided the country along the lines of class, race and sex,” observed the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, in “Torchlight for America,” a book he wrote and published in 1993.
“Classism, racism and sexism are used to keep the people divided, and these three evils threaten to sink and destroy the entire country. America must deal effectively with these lines of division or face anarchy and revolution,” the Minister warned.
There are too few voices willing to call for a different approach, a more respectful and healthier approach to solve problems faced by a country suffering under crushing economic failure, war abroad, high deficits, few jobs, failing education, and huge amounts of suffering.
With presidential elections coming in 2012, don’t expect any renewed sense of national interest or acting in the best interest of the country any time soon. Don’t expect thoughtful voices to urge debate and not denigration and reflection and not knee-jerk reaction.
Don’t expect political leaders to put the needs of their constituents and fellow citizens first, don’t expect political leaders to get much done.
You can expect more efforts to push President Obama, already careful on issues of race, to move to the political center. That means keeping a good distance from anything that might be construed as giving too much to Blacks, Latinos or the poor.
You can probably expect the blame game, the who is the real American game, the who will fight terrorism game, and who will defend America game. All of these games are likely to stir the emotions of voters but don’t expect substantive attempts to resolve many problems.
Some pundits are saying a GOP victory in Congress may force Republicans to find a way to actually get things done, but many GOPers have already made defeat of the president in 2012 their number one priority.
When a political leader’s number one mission is defeating an opponent and not pursuing an agenda, there is trouble ahead. And America it seems remains sadly headed toward harder times but blind leaders cannot see how their small-mindedness is steadily taking the country toward total ruin.
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