I’ve always detested obstructionism in government.
But watching some U.S. senators try to flex their flaccid muscles while fighting against the next defense secretary, my feelings are incher closer to pure hatred … not of the people who do it, mind you, just the act itself.
Although I hold the obstructionists in very low regard as well.
Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla,, has emerged as the latest obstructionist in chief. He is lobbying his colleagues to vote against a procedure that would bring the nomination of Defense Secretary-designate Chuck Hagel to a vote of the full Senate.
President Obama reached across the aisle to pick Hagel, a former GOP senator from Nebraska – and a decorated Vietnam War combat veteran – as the new Pentagon boss. But he’s drawn not-so-friendly fire from – get this – Republican senators. I guess that’s not surprising, given that the president is a dreaded Democrat and Hagel is, well, apparently a turncoat in the eyes of his former colleagues and friends.
Inhofe is sending a “Dear Colleague” letter to his colleagues asking them to vote “no” on cloture, the procedure that would end the so-called filibuster against Hagel. Inhofe is bucking at least two key Republican senators, John McCain and Lindsay Graham, who argued fiercely against Hagel in committee confirmation hearings only to relent and say they’ll vote to move the nomination forward.
But Inhofe is hanging tough, apparently joining with other obstructionists – among them being Texas’ newly minted loudmouth, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz – in opposing Hagel to the bitter end.
There once was a time when the term “loyal opposition” carried a kind of positive aura. Not these days. And it’s especially unbecoming when we see the politicization of an office – secretary of defense – that should stand far above this brand of cheap partisan petulance.