McConnell's Lessons of 1995

[BootinUp]

From Krugmans blog:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/28/lessons-of-1995/


Lessons of 1995

When I read the Mitch McConnell quote that’s been getting so much attention:

The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.

my immediate concern was whether it was taken out of context. And if you read the full National Journal interview (subscription required), the nuances are a bit different from those you might take from the quote in isolation.

But not in a good way.

If you read the whole thing, what you get is that McConnell is taking a very different lesson from the events of 1995 than the one most pundits take, and expect Republicans to take. The whole attempt to bully Clinton into slashing Medicare by shutting down the federal government was a political failure for the GOP; but McConnell doesn’t see this as evidence that Republicans were too confrontational.

No, he sees it as evidence that they weren’t confrontational enough; they were too focused on their policy agenda, and neglected the necessary work of destroying Clinton:

more
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/28/lessons-of-1995/

[Myrina]

1. So, that begs the question:

If the GOP was that out-front with their intent to sit on their hands and obstruct at every turn, why did POTUS waste ONE SECOND trying to 'reach across the aisle' to them? {b]WHY?

They were determined not to do shit for 2 (or 4) years, and they've succeeded. And instead of using his Nov 2008 mandate and 2 house majority to get some seriously GOOD shit done for this country, POTUS has essentially spun his wheels.

My only hope is that if we keep both houses in next week's elections, he wakes the fuck up and realizes that it's time to drop the hammer on the GOP and get some populist legislation rolling for the people of this country who are still suffering.

[BootinUp]

2. The interview Krugman is talking about

was where McConnell was asked what he plans to do after the election.

It was not a question about the last two years, but I am sure you can come back with some more blame Obama for everything bs again. Did you by any chance watch Obamas interview on the Daily Show? I think before you slam him relentlessly it would be worth watching. Pretty sure you can watch the whole thing online. www.thedailyshow.com