Donald J. Trump’s supporters are pushing back on the intense criticism coming from the portion of the country — most of which voted against him in 2016 — of the man’s presidency.
I feel the need to flash back for a moment to 2009.
Let’s remember what a leading Senate Republican said at the time about the previous president of the United States, Barack H. Obama.
Mitch McConnell then was the minority leader in the Senate and I presume he was speaking on behalf of the GOP Senate caucus when he made a straightforward and ominous declaration.
He said his “No. 1 priority” as the Senate GOP leader was to “make Barack Obama a one-term president.”
Yep. That’s what he said. He laid down his marker early in the Obama administration. He didn’t stress enactment of landmark legislation, or working with the president to rescue the economy — which was collapsing when Obama took office. He didn’t propose any reforms of his own or suggest ways Republicans and Democrats could find common ground.
He said he intended to make Obama a one-term president. That translated into “obstruct everything he intends to do.”
Hmmm. It didn’t quite work out that way. Obama got re-elected in 2012 and finished his time in the White House with soaring approval ratings in every single leading public opinion poll.
Is it right and proper for Democrats now to follow the Republicans’ lead? Mostly “no.”
I’ve noted here before that I don’t wish for the president to fail. A presidential failure means the country fails and we all pay the price for that.
However, as the new president seeks to form a government — and he still has quite a way to go — my hope is that Democrats can find some common ground with the Republican president whenever possible.
The problem, though, is that Donald Trump has begun harping about the media being the “enemy of the people” while continuing to boast about his Electoral College victory. Enough, already!
Some positive proposals ought to be formulated and presented for Congress to ponder.
Until then, my Republican friends ought to just swallow the swill they offered eight years ago when Barack Obama was elected … with, I feel compelled to note, a far more robust majority than his successor earned.