The phony call to work together
By Frank Salvato
web posted September 11, 2006
As the November mid-term elections approach, the American people are once again being subjected to the rhetoric of politics over the function of government. Both sides will opportunistically point the finger of blame at the other for legislative inaction on several issues important to our country. While there is a pathetic amount of gridlock on Capitol Hill, only one party is on record as being obstructionist, and the name of that party doesn't start with an "R".
Recently, I heard former Congressman and 9/11 Commission member Tim Roemer speaking on the progress of the war against Islamofascism with regard to the upcoming elections. He said that the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the sectarian violence in Iraq would most likely be the Achilles heel for Republicans up for re-election in both the House and the Senate. While this assessment has validity as far as it goes, it only has validity as far as it goes.
Roemer stopped short of including a couple of facts. He failed to mention that the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan is less about an inadequate job by the Coalition Forces there and more about Afghanistan's unsecured border with the tribal regions in Pakistan occupied by Islamofascists. He also failed to mention that the sectarian violence in Iraq is pro-actively supported by terrorist organizations trying to affect not only the survival of the fledgling elected Iraqi government, but the elections in the US as well.
The most disturbing inference made by Roemer wasn't in what he didn't say, instead it was in his stating that the American people would likely punish the Republican Party for the inaction of government on the overall issues of the war against Islamofascism and national security. He literally blamed the Republicans for not working in a bi-partisan manner to effectively govern our country.
To say that Congressman Roemer's statement is a bit skewed is to be kind.
On the issue of national security, it has been proven time and again that the PATRIOT Act has been effective in thwarting planned attacks by Islamofascist terrorists on our soil. So too, have the National Security Agency surveillance programs been effective. The fact that both these intelligence gathering tools proved valuable in the recent usurpation of terror attacks planned to bring down passenger airliners out of Britain's Heathrow Airport stands as proof positive that the initiatives not only work, but are seriously needed in our on-going struggle for survival.
Yet, when the Senate debated the extension of the PATRIOT Act in 2005, it was the Democrats led by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) who opposed the measure, not only on ideological grounds, but for political reasons. Reid, in a hastily manufactured press conference after the initial stonewalling of the measure was quoted as saying, "We killed the PATRIOT Act." While the PATRIOT Act was eventually reauthorized, so too was the Democrats' resolve to employ political obstructionism.
When President Bush released his plan to promote the partial privatization of Social Security – the third component to the original piece of legislation championed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt – House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi employed a tactic of deception and obstructionism.
Understanding that Democrats in Congress couldn't defeat the president by going head to head with him on the facts of the matter, Pelosi urged her party members to instead declare that there was no Social Security crisis and therefore no need to overhaul the system. When asked by some members of her party the timetable for unveiling a plan of their own Pelosi is quoted as saying, "Never. Is never good enough for you?" And when Congressman Rob Wexler (D-FL) suggested that Social Security taxes need to be raised in an effort to avoid the upcoming Social Security solvency emergency, Pelosi chewed him out so publicly and so viciously that only one person signed on to Wexler's plan.
Recently, Pelosi has been overheard ordering her rank and file not to work on bills or even hold press conferences with Republicans whom the party is trying to defeat in November.
And then there is the leader of the entire Democratic Party, Howard Dean, who unabashedly declared, "I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for…"
In contrast, President Bush not only tried to work with Democrats on issues important to our nation, he has forged a working relationship with former President Bill Clinton – an individual who sees nothing wrong with bad-mouthing the Bush Administration in the war against Islamofascism while overseas. The president even employed Democrats in his cabinet (remember, George "It's a slam dunk" Tenet was a Clinton Era holdover, as was Norm Mineta).
In another attempt to reach across the aisle, President Bush stood on stage hugging Sen. Teddy Kennedy (D-MA) on the occasion of signing the No Child Left Behind Act into law. It wasn't until Kennedy realized he wasn't going to have a blank check with which to grease the political wheels of the Democratic Party that he turned on the president, initiating the oft referred to, but nevertheless inaccurate notion that NCLB was unfunded (the fact is that NCLB is fully funded but requires states to test for accountability, a condition that sees many state governments refusing to participate in the program and thus, not receiving NCLB funding).
In Congress, Senate Republicans repeatedly backed-down from opportunities to use the "nuclear option" when Democratic filibusters were threatened, instead falling prey to those among them who would usurp party leaders in the forming of collaborative coalitions with the minority party.
So, while political opportunists continue to advance the fallacy that incumbent Republicans are unwilling to cooperate with Democrats in doing the people's work, the facts indicate that it is the Democrats who have adopted the strategy of criticize and obstruct while offering scant ideas of their own.
To those who continue to say that Republicans should once again reach across the aisle in an attempt at non-partisanship I say, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…" 
Frank Salvato is the managing editor for The New Media Journal. He serves at the Executive Director of the Basics Project, a non-profit, non-partisan, 501(C)(3) research and education initiative. His pieces are regularly featured in over 100 publications both nationally and internationally. He has appeared on The O'Reilly Factor, and is a regular guest on The Right Balance with Greg Allen on the Accent Radio Network, as well as an occasional guest on numerous radio shows coast to coast. He recently partnered in producing the first-ever symposium on the threat of radical Islamist terrorism in Washington, DC. His pieces have been recognized by the House International Relations Committee and the Japan Center for Conflict. He can be contacted at oped@newmediajournal.us. Copyright © 2006 Frank Salvato