Quote:
Originally Posted by Jermyn Davidson
With that said, let there be no doubt in anyone's mind that if things were switched around, and it was a few democrats pulling this stunt while a Republican was President, everyone on FOX, and all the self-righteous conservatives that feed at FOX's trough would be just as upset as you are by the GOP idiots in the House that has taken our country hostage, politically speaking.
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Jermyn, I realize both you and DM were probably drinking your momma's milk when this happened...
But I remember when Reagan was President. Reagan had a pet project, too. It wasn't healthcare; it was a missile defense system. In the early 80s, he wanted funding for a missile defense system; the Democrats, however, wanted to pass an expensive spending bill for jobs. The deadline passed and the Democrats shut down the government.
What happened?
Did Reagan run around making campaign-type speeches, accusing the Democrats of "holding a gun to the head of the American people?" Did Howard Baker, Ted Stevens, and Robert Michel run to the floor of the Senate/House and call the Democrats "anarchists," or say they were "waging jihad" on Americans? Did Reagan spend his days ignoring the Democrats, telling people he didn't need to negotiate, or giving interviews blaming Democrats for shutting down the government.
NO!
You know what Reagan did? He met with Tip O'neil, shelved his missile program, and Democrats dropped their spending bill. The very next year, Democrats shut down the government again. This time, Reagan and the Democrats compromised; the Dems got a large increase in education spending and Reagan got his missile program funded.
That's how it should work. It is absolutely the role of Congress to shut down the government, if need be. And it should be the role of the President to sit down with both sides and work out a compromise, regardless of his pet projects or personal pride.
Obama could end this in 5 minutes and get a massive bump in polls by doing one thing:
Bring the leaders back to the table, offer a one-year delay on obummercare, but in return Congress will need to approve a CR which will continue to fund the law.
This gives obummercare the funding Obama wants, and it also gives the Republicans a partial win as well.
This is what Reagan and Tip Oneil would have done, and this is what Obama and the Republicans should do.