Six years ago, I was a contributor to The Hill in Washington, DC. If you ask me, the roots of today’s Big Lie and the ouster of Liz Cheney were beginning to show signs of Republican rot before I wrote the following opinion piece in 2015. What says you?
Are GOP critics helping or hurting America?
First, they tried to make Barack Obama’s presidency an asterisk. Many claimed he was born in Africa; despite public records to the contrary, the “birthers” said his election was a fraud.
Next came the unrelenting attacks on his overall economic policies. They seem to have forgotten he inherited the worst economy since the Great Depression. Everything he proposed, including helping the auto industry, was suspect in their opinion.
When he became the first president ever to pass a comprehensive healthcare reform bill for millions of uninsured, they directed their lawyers to fight the provisions in court.
Now they want to become the fourth leg of government. Forget the fact they are one of three already. On the heels of inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress without consulting the White House, now they want to make policy agreements with foreign governments.
Last Monday, 47 GOP senators sent a letter to Iran warning its leaders that any agreement between Washington and Tehran could be voided by Congress once Obama leaves office in 2017. The New York Daily News branded the lawmakers “traitors.”
When will this Republican madness stop?
It’s no secret they dislike virtually everything the president stands for politically. During the 2014 midterm elections, Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) and then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) pledged that, if the GOP took control of both chambers on Capitol Hill, they would end gridlock in Washington. Well, it’s one thing to end the legislative backlog. It’s another to start an uncontrolled landslide of epic proportions.
Regardless of one’s political affiliation, the question all Americans should be asking today is this: Are Republican critics helping or hurting the nation with their unfounded claims, hyperpartisan accusations and legislative meddling?
-DF