White House Meeting. Who Brought The Brick?

The President is still looking for bipartisanship between his administration and the Republican Party, a group who have made their point clear and is on a mission to destroy any and every policy this White House tries to implement. And after the midterm elections, President Obama is determined to take this idea of bipartisanship to a level we haven’t seen in American politics.

But the very word bipartisanship demands two sides, don’t it? It demands two sides that’s willing to come together, to work together with a common goal in mind. Bipartisanship demands agreement, if not on the path forward, it demands agreement on what the outcome should accomplish.

And therein lies the problem with expecting bipartisanship between Republicans and the Democratic congressional members;

1. We don’t have two sides. Yes, there are different opposing views on policies, but only one side is willing to present their plan. Only the President and the Democrats in congress have come to the table, and they’ve been sitting at the table waiting for the Republicans for almost two years now. Although there are many different examples of this, the most recent one will be the invitation from the President to the leaders of both parties to come to the White House for a discussion on America’s present economic situation and a path forward. That invitation by the Commander In Chief was turned down by Republicans because they claimed, they had too much to do. They were later seen on television giving interviews about their wins in the midterm elections. That is obviously more important than coming together in a bipartisan way to determine a way forward for this country.
2. We don’t have an agreement on what America’s outcome should be. This too, is one sided. For the last two years, we have heard the Democratic plan on what they want to accomplish. We’ve seen their push on different policies and we’ve seen the bills they’ve signed into law. We can tell that these policies are geared towards the American people. Now it’s understandable that everyone may not see these policies as benefits for the American people, but when these policies are compared to those of the Republicans, then it’s clear that one side favors the people and the other side prefers Corporations.

And now, on Tuesday, the meeting that was originally issued by the President and dissed by Republicans is back on the schedule.

In their first post election visit to the White House, would be the new leaders of the House Of Representatives, John Boehner and his Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell. Their Democratic counterpart, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are also expected to attend. Should we expect anything positive from this get together? In an interview on Monday, the President outlined what he expects from the meeting;

“My hope is that tomorrow’s meeting will mark a first step towards a new and productive working relationship, because we now have a shared responsibility to deliver for the American people.

“We’re going to have to budge on some deeply held positions and compromise for the good of the country. We’re going to have to set aside the politics of the moment to make progress for the long term.”

But will Republicans be willing to sit down and present their case with the eventual outcome of forging a path forward for the American people? It’s a wait and see attitude. According to Doug Holtz-Eakin, director of the Congressional Budget Office under President George W. Bush;

“There is a lot of distrust on both sides. [Tuesday] is meant to be about lowering that distrust — to look around the room and see who brought a brick, who brought a weapon. It’s about the ability of these different leaders to understand each other.”

America is waiting and watching…

Related articles

• Obama, Republicans in tax face-off at White House – Reuters (news.google.com)
• Let The Bipartisanship Begin? (blogs.abcnews.com)
• Obama, congressional leaders to gather for face-to-face chat (washingtonmonthly.com)