If Congressman Joe Wilson's ill-tempered and badly-timed rant last night did nothing else, it reinforced the idea that this country is headed over a cliff, driven by partisans by both sides of the aisle.
Wilson, who scrambled to apologize and save face, has drawn predictable scorn and outrage from Democrats and Republicans. But really now, people: How was his conduct last night any different than what we hear on a daily basis around this country?
From talk shows to cable news programs to town hall meetings, the concepts of civility, respect and tolerance have gone right out the window. No sooner had Wilson tried to extract his foot from his mouth than Congressman Barney Frank was going from show to show insulting the intelligence of Republicans. And on and on it goes.
The result? Our system of government is dragged through the mud, and no one seems capable or willing to turn off the garden hose and to end the supply of water that causes the mud in the first place.
We've become far more interested in taking score and pointing fingers than getting things done.
At this point, it really doesn't much matter who started the food fight that marks what passes for political discourse in the U.S. The questioning of Reagan's understanding of government became the attacks on Clinton's character, which gave way to hits on George W. Bush's intelligence, which bring us to where we are today, with a significant number of Americans openly challenging the authority of Obama to lead.
And the way things stand, whomever follows Obama, whether it's in 2013 or 2017, will take control of the government with a substantial bloc of Americans mocking his or her legitimacy as a leader.
My fear is that it will take the occurrence of something cataclysmic (and you can figure out what that is) before people on both sides realize they've gone too far.
The question is what person(s) command enough respect from liberals and conservatives to lead the nation through a dialogue where all of our significant differences are laid out on the table and hashed out, so that at the end, we can agree to disagree without going at each other's throats.
We desperately need some adults in the room before the kids throw so much food that the mess can't be cleaned up.
1 comment:
Dear Milton:
Your comments were right on the mark, as is your wont. What concerns me most is that Obama's opponents are consciously creating a climate of hate. And I think the unstated goal is for the President's death. America's chickens have never wandered to far away from the roost, unfortunately.
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