President Obama said the following last night:
“I can’t afford to see Congress play the usual political games. What we have to do right now is deliver for the American people,” Obama said just hours after the legislation narrowly cleared a key procedural hurdle in the Senate, where it is likely to gain final passage today.
But he can play (not really) unusual political games last week.
Because each day we wait to begin the work of turning our economy around, more people lose their jobs, their savings and their homes. And if nothing is done, this recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.
Or last month:
… What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.
President Obama is a politician. Politicians play political games. That’s no surprise, so back to last night:
“So, you know, we can differ on some of the particulars, but again, the question I think that the American people are asking is: Do you just want government to do nothing, or do you want it to do something? If you want it to do something, then we can have a conversation,” he said. “But doing nothing — that’s not an option, from my perspective.”
If we’re willing to accept the parameters he dictates, then we can talk. Otherwise, we’re cynics to be ignored. I see “change” in where the efforts are directed, not in how they are directed.