Political theater

An amusing, if pathetic, little piece of political theater this afternoon revealed just how meaningless are President Obama's repeated attempts over the past few weeks to paint the Republicans as the obstacle to a workable job bill. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) attempted this afternoon call up President Obama’s jobs plan for an immediate vote in the Senate. The attempt was blocked procedurally by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)

McConnell admits the move was made just to embarrass the Democrats, because what McConnell and Raid both know is that there are not enough Democratic votes in the Senate to pass the President's bill, even though the Democrats have a majority in the Senate. It is not just the Republicans who won't support higher taxes; it is also a lot of Democratic Senators who are up for re-election next year and want no part of being associated with President' Obama's higher-taxes plan.

So the dirty little secret exposed by this political theater is that it is not just Republican opposition that is blocking his plan -- it is strong opposition from his own party. More than that, President Obama is perfectly well aware that his plan is a non-starter with his own party; moreover he was aware of this even before he proposed the plan, because the Congressional leadership of his own party told him so in no uncertain terms.

That means that he never expected his plan to pass, so pushing it is nothing more than a pre-election maneuver, not a serious attempt to deal with the unemployment problem. For this descent into Chicago-style political gamesmanship in the face of such a serious national problem he has now finally lost my vote for good, whomever the Republicans nominate.