John Carney decided to establish his street cred in Congress by building friendships with Republicans. It was the very heart of his brand-building first term. A daring strategy, and as it turned out, a stupid one.
On December 13th, when they break after only 6 work days in December, this Congress will go down in history as the worst Congress ever: most votes taken with the fewest laws passed.
In spite of a Senate bill that word have moved us toward a more just and economically viable system, we’ve had no movement on immigration reform. This congress could not even pass defense re-authorization, a bill that has been passed routinely by every Congress in the modern era.
Instead we’ve had 47 votes to defund the ACA, a government shutdown, and the signature achievement of this congress – sequester. It is just pitiful.
While Carney’s desire to make friends with Teabags may be rooted in a reading of history that puts a premium on “working together” and might have been viewed as a virtue in the past, there is no way to defend anything other than rugged and vocal resistance to the unhinged, anti-American misrule of the teaparty congress.
Republicans in Congress don’t need friends, they need determined enemies. Brute force is the only thing they understand. If the teaparty Republicans valued Mr. Carney’s willingness to compromise and work together, they would have done so. There was ample opportunity, and yet – time after time the Republican voted as a block. Calls for moderation and centrist rationality fell on deaf ears. No Republican was willing to be Mr. Carney’s partner in a stirring rendition of Kumbayah.
Perhaps Mr. Carney’s overtures were a noble experiment? If so, it was an experiment that failed. Time to move on to calling the Republicans out for what that are in no uncertain terms. If the strong critics teaparty don’t come from solidly blue states like Delaware – where there is no chance for a sitting Democrat to face a primary from either the left or the right – where will they come from?
John Carney still has a chance to build his brand in Congress as a strong defender of American values. While a willingness to compromise is one of the values we hold dear – so is a willingness to fight.