Republicans Fail

Posted by Joshua Montgomery November 6, 2012 at 11:35 p.m.

Lindsey Graham (R) famously said that the number one item on the Republican agenda was to make Mr. Obama a one-term president. Though I am sure there will be a lot of hand clenching and tooth gnashing over consequences of Mr. Romney's loss to President Obama, the one thing that cannot be disputed is that the President's victory represents a complete failure of the Republican agenda.

Instead of reaching compromise agreements on health care, working with the president on free market solutions to climate change or helping to create new lightly regulated funding mechanisms for start-up companies by working on the JOBS bill, Republicans chose to focus on obstructing the President's agenda. They chose to paint him as a socialist, block his initiatives, block his appointments and demonize him. They chose the path of obstruction over the path of compromise.

During the debt ceiling debate and the Obamacare debate Mr Obama practically begged Republicans to meet him in the middle. He offered compromises on taxes, on the health care mandate, he offered to compromise on Social Security age restrictions and on and on and on. All the Republicans could say to this was No, No, No.

Instead of serving their constituents, they served their ideology.

Now that agenda is a complete failure. The Republicans failed to get their ideas included in the President's programs, then they failed to remove the President. More importantly however, they failed their constituents.

I hope they learn their lesson, but I doubt they will. The Republicans need to change their attitude. They need to work with Democrats, reach across the isle and make compromises.

They need a new agenda, one that serves their constituents rather than their vanity. An agenda rooted in what is best for the country. They need to work with the President and not against him.