Ideology Versus Emotionalism

Just when I thought we had come to a spirit of bipartisanship and respect I pick up the paper today and read Derrick Jackson's column in The Boston Globe. Mr. Jackson seems unable to separate emotionalism from ideological differences and attributes republicans rejecting the stimulus package to uncaring and lack of compassion. Consider how he starts his article titled, "Republican obstinacy: How's it working?" on p. A15. "Not even the stimulus bill stimulated the Republican Party into any human feeling. It heard not the screams of 4 million people losing their jobs in the last year, not the slamming doors of shuttering factories, nor the shrieks at kitchen tables from Saco to Sacramento as working Americans open their mail to see they've lost 40 percent and more on the 401ks." His article degenerates from there.

Mr. Jackson speaks about Bush's low poll numbers. Agreed, but how do Bush's low ratings relate to republicans rejecting the stimulus bill? He points out that 13% of Americans polled by CNN felt Bush "brought the kind of change the country needed" and uses that figure to catapult to President Obama's election and of course, "the change we need." I highly respect President Obama, and realize he is very popular, but our country is founded on a system of checks and balances. Republicans now have that critical role of examining decisions, asking questions and voting no when wrong moves are likely to be made.

Further along in the article Mr. Jackson throws in the race card, albeit in a suggestive rather than outright manner, causing the reader to think Judd Gregg may have withdrawn his nomination as commerce secretary due to his anticipated lack of control over how the census will be carried out in terms of minority people. Not sure why I continued, but I read more and got to this line that equaled Karl Rove's America-splitting rhetoric. "No, they [Republicans] run around calling the stimulus garbage, even as maggots keep crawling out of the carcass of the last administration."

There is one very important quality I see Barack Obama bringing to the Presidency and that is a sense of civility. President Obama has courteous words for just about everybody, except terrorists. When Chief Justice John Roberts messed up his inaugural vows, Obama very kindly said something to the effect that "We were both very nervous," knowing full well it was Justice Roberts' slip. Barack Obama is forever gracious. Having read Derrick Jackson's column over time, I gather he appears to look up to his President. My suggestion to Jackson is to take some lessons from the man you so much admire.

If you want to get your blood boiling, read Derrick Jackson's article.

The Boston Globe, Wed., Feb. 18, 2009, p.A15, "Republican obstinacy: How's it working?" by Derrick Z. Jackson
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/02/18/republican_obstinacy_hows_it_working/