Lame Ducks, Elephants, and Donkeys

I have long been an opponent of “politics as usual” in Washington and never was this more apparent than the past half-year. Many republicans’ blatant opposition to Obama simply to oppose him has been unwelcomed. This was exemplified by many Senate republicans’ rejection of the new S.T.A.R.T Treaty even when Kissinger and several other conservative aids that lived through the cold-war have agreed on its necessity. I know I’m picking on conservatives here, but after the successful mid-term elections they have, as a collective group, made themselves look rather silly.

One of the first things they did was to hold the lame duck session hostage in order to complete the tax agreement. Conservatives were holding out for tax cuts for the richest while arguing that it would help the economic recovery. Then there was conservative opposition to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, the D.R.E.A.M Act and ironically the most recent opposition to the 9/11 First Responders bill…and the “disrespectful” nature of coming back to work after Christmas until the new year. They seem to be squandering some of the support they gained in the mid-term election.

That being said, I am as tired of the fear mongering as I am politics as usual. After the initial fright of political deadlock in the senate, I am glad to see the new tax deal for a few reasons. I am not really in favor of increasing our deficit, and thus our reliance on Chinese credit, but I am happy to see higher expected growth figures. Despite opposition, the Pentagon has all by agreed to the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT), which has thankfully passed the senate. Even more important was the ratification of the new S.T.A.R.T Treaty with Russia that aims at lowering the number of nuclear warheads and helping keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists. In both the DADT and the S.T.A.R.T Treaty conservatives joined democrats in droves despite opposition from conservative Senate and House leadership. Even more encouraging is the unanimous approval for the 9/11 first responders healthcare bill. Given much of the most recent bickering on Capitol Hill, I am happily surprised. Maybe it’s a Christmas miracle?...


Merry Christmas!
(Links used: http://www.economist.com/ , http://www.nytimes.com/ )