This is a terrible situation for America. There was a time in the past when Republican politicians and Democratic politicians were friends, talked issues over, tried to find common ground, and in some cases, worked in a bipartisan manner to achieve goals beneficial to the country as a whole. No longer.
I'm not sure when things changed. But I do know that during Bill Clinton's presidency, he was mercilessly attacked by the Republicans, who did not seem to like anything he did. Newt Gingrich adopted the attitude that if Clinton was for anything, the Republicans were against it. Then the Republicans mounted the atrocious impeachment battle. Obviously, this did not win friends and influence people.
Bush Jr. developed polarization to an art. He belittled, defamed and laughed at Al Gore. In the Florida mess after the first election, he got himself pit-bull Jim Baker to destroy Gore's credibility. Immediately after the election he instituted his radical program for making multinationals the consistent winners in their affairs with employees and consumers.
In the most recent election, Bush smeared, attacked and laughed at John Kerry. After the election, he declared he had "capital" that he was going to spend. Number one on his to-do list is the destruction of Social Security with his privatization scheme. He is running around the country trying to separate blacks from whites by telling blacks they are not getting a fair deal with Social Security; and trying to separate seniors from younger people, by telling seniors that their benefits would not change. Yes, Bush knows how to "divide and conquer."
"Divide and conquer" is a great concept for killing off enemies. Who are the enemies? Americans? Democrats? Citizens who disagree with Bush? Bush is tearing apart the fabric of this nation's civil society.
OK, maybe you can chalk all this up to politics. Tough politics. But when Bush renominated judge candidates who had been previously rejected by Democrats, it demonstrated to everyone that all he wanted to do is win. With this move he showed his disdain for Democrats. Bush is using these nominees as pawns to bring home to Democrats that the Republicans are the winners and the Democrats are the losers.
It means so much for Republicans to win, that Senator Frist, the majority leader, has warned he would use the "nuclear option" - getting a ruling by a majority that filibustering of judges was not allowed - to assure that all judge nominees are voted on.
So, yesterday, minority leader Harry Reid, backed up by a majority of Democratic senators, announced that if the "nuclear option" were adopted by the Republicans, the Democrats would use senate procedures to bring senate business to a crawl, except for important bills such as about security and the budget. Reid said that the filibuster was part of the system of checks and balances that made our country great.
Too bad it has come to this. I hope the "nuclear exchange" does not happen. I believe calmer voices will prevail.
Whatever happens with the judge nominees, I fear the polarization will continue. The only way it can be stopped is by the man on top: President George W. Bush. Unfortunately, he has been the greatest polarizer of all. I hope he has a change of heart.
If Bush doesn't, the Democrats must pursue him on this, not merely to show the country how he is destroying it, but to demonstrate to all our citizens that Democrats prefer comity, harmony and working for the common good.
