Defending Reality

As a pragmatic centrist, I’m not a partisan or ideological person. In fact, I’m quite the opposite. Centrists acknowledge that no party has a monopoly on good ideas. Centrists will vote for anyone from any party.  Pragmatists believe good solutions can come from anyway on the ideological spectrum.  It can be a Democratic proposal or a Republican proposal, a progressive idea or a conservative idea, a free market solution or a government program.  As a centrist, all I care about is solutions, not politics. 

Therefore, what does get me angrily upset is the way American democracy has been warped and exploited by both political parties to score political points.  Instead of collaborating, compromising, -which is essential to any democracy - and building a consensus that will help expand, secure, and improve America’s middle class and thus America’s global competitiveness, the two parties and their proxies fling insults, ridiculous accusations, and partisan BS. 

So my response has been to defend reality, not a particular politician or party.  And the reason I may seem to defend Democrats more in the recent past is because the accusations coming from the Republican Party have gotten out of control – think “death panels” and “Muslim socialist not born in the USA.” Many Republicans agree with me on this.  Moreover, it’s common for the party out of power, such as the Republicans currently are, to be more partisan than the party in power trying to pass an agenda. 

But I still find it difficult not to defend reality.  I did so while Bush was president and do so now.  As Senator Joe Manchin once said, “Whoever the president is, I support. That’s my president. Democrat, Republican, George Bush, Obama, and every American should take that approach.” Because if the president fails, so does the nation.  That’s just how our political system works. 

So I do support Obama, but more importantly I support reality.  While the Republicans would like you to believe that Obama is the second coming of Jimmy Carter, the reality can’t be more different.  Is Obama a failed or failing president as Republicans say he is? To answer that question, let’s analyze what would’ve happened if Obama had failed these past three years. 

1.
If Obama had failed the American economy would be in a depression, unemployment would be higher than 25%, the interdependent world economy would be shattered, and the American capitalist system probably would be on life support. 

As Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve and the most influential person in the American economy, once said, “If the American economy’s freefall isn’t stopped there would be a second depression ten times greater than in the 1930s.”

But President Obama got a stimulus package passed which stopped the economy’s freefall. That’s not failure. 

2.
If Obama had failed GM and Chrysler would have gone bankrupt, 3 million more people would be out of a job, Ford probably would have floundered due to the closing of suppliers, and the unemployment rate would have crept up much higher. 

Instead, President Obama made the unpopular decision of giving temporary, government support to GM and Chrysler – something President Bush acknowledged he would’ve done also. 

Because Obama did the right thing, not the popular thing, Chrysler is growing faster in North America than ever before and GM has regained the lead for the number one car maker in the world.  And more importantly millions of people didn’t lose their jobs.  Furthermore, both GM and Chrysler have already paid back the money the government loaned them.  That’s success, not failure.

3.
If Obama had failed Osama bin Laden would still be in hiding and al Qaeda would still be threatening America. Instead President Obama increased drone strikes which have devastated the al Qaeda network.

“In just two years, the Obama administration authorized nearly four times as many drone strikes as did the Bush administration throughout its entire time in office -- or an average of one strike every four days, compared with one every 40 days under Bush (Foreign Affairs, July/August 2011).”

He also put pressure on the CIA to find bin Laden, helped strategize the raid that killed him – he was actually the person who suggested numerous helicopters just in case a few went down which one did, and made the decision as Commander and Chief to send American personal hundreds of miles into a dangerous but allied nation – a decision that would stump most presidents.

Republicans like to say Obama deserves no credit for the bin Laden raid. But to be the one in charge as Commander in Chief is a high pressure job that demands decisiveness. Could you ask for a better result?

In addition, if Obama had failed Republicans would surely put the blame on him as they did when Jimmy Carter approved the failed mission into Iran to rescue American hostages. However, since Obama succeeded he gets no credit. 

These are just three examples to demonstrate what today would look like if Obama had failed as the Republicans claim he has.  That’s just partisan BS to alter public opinion and shackle the president’s approval ratings.

Instead of flinging insults, ridiculous accusations, and partisan BS, Republicans should get serious and offer their own proposals.  If they have better proposals then go vote for them, I would. 

But let’s look at how the Republican Party’s leaders would have handled these three situations that Obama succeeded at. 

1.
Both Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich opposed the 2008 stimulus package. What did they offer instead? Nothing. If they had a better proposal that would’ve been great, but instead they - the Republicans had no solutions to offer. So it’s only logical to believe they would’ve done nothing. Luckily we know how that would’ve ended. Herbert Hoover did nothing during the Great Depression and because of it the Depression grew and Hoover is now remembered as a failed president.  That's failure.

2.
Both Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich also opposed the GM and Chrysler bailout. GM and Chrysler would’ve failed, unemployment would’ve risen, 3 million more people would be out of jobs, and the situation would’ve intensified the already unstable economic crisis.

3.
Mitt Romney argued during the 2008 presidential campaign that Obama was wrong for suggesting that he would approve a mission to enter Pakistan to capture or kill Osama bin Laden.  He also said killing Osama bin Laden would be “insignificant” and it’s “not worth moving heaven and earth.” So Romney wouldn’t have ordered the raid that killed Osama bin Laden and he would still be in Pakistan building al Qaeda. 

Reality is much more complex than the partisan BS that the two parties throw at us.  I will continue to defend reality no matter who benefits from it, Obama, Bush, Romney, or Gingrich.  Because if we can’t even have a rational conversation then how can we have real debate?  

Other essays you may be interested in… 
 
“What is the key to presidential success?”

“Why is China laughing at America?”

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