President Obama: “Compromise Has Become A Dirty Word”
Since January I have been following the debt limit debate in Washington. I have been struck, over and over, with the small-minded notion of many who were first elected last November, in knowing how to step up and govern. The lack of understanding about how compromise is necessary to the way government works, or the role that compromise has played in our history, is rather shocking to me.
It is to President Obama as well.
Tonight Obama made a masterful speech about the political climate in Washington, and how compromise must be better understood by those who have such a disdain for anyone else’s ideas.
But do you know what people are fed up with most of all?
They’re fed up with a town where compromise has become a dirty word. They work all day long, many of them scraping by, just to put food on the table. And when these Americans come home at night, bone-tired, and turn on the news, all they see is the same partisan three-ring circus here in Washington. They see leaders who can’t seem to come together and do what it takes to make life just a little bit better for ordinary Americans. They are offended by that. And they should be.
The American people may have voted for divided government, but they didn’t vote for a dysfunctional government. So I’m asking you all to make your voice heard. If you want a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, let your Member of Congress know. If you believe we can solve this problem through compromise, send that message.
America, after all, has always been a grand experiment in compromise. As a democracy made up of every race and religion, where every belief and point of view is welcomed, we have put to the test time and again the proposition at the heart of our founding: that out of many, we are one. We have engaged in fierce and passionate debates about the issues of the day, but from slavery to war, from civil liberties to questions of economic justice, we have tried to live by the words that Jefferson once wrote: “Every man cannot have his way in all things…Without this mutual disposition, we are disjointed individuals, but not a society.”
History is scattered with the stories of those who held fast to rigid ideologies and refused to listen to those who disagreed. But those are not the Americans we remember. We remember the Americans who put country above self, and set personal grievances aside for the greater good. We remember the Americans who held this country together during its most difficult hours; who put aside pride and party to form a more perfect union.
First truth: What is the “proper amount of revenues”? Is it always more than we can spend?
Second truth: Compromise is overrated when it comes saving a sinking ship. America is sinking when 40 cents of every dollar spent is borrowed.
Might I suggest – that ability to marry is a poor example of an issue in which one could be expected to compromise. You are Married or you are not. You are ABLE to marry or you are not. To suggest that a group of people NOT have a right to marry and to expect them to willingly not marry when they really wish to is not an example of compromise.
A better example would be decisions made WITHIN a marriage, you would not expect marital success or even the most basic level of marital functioning if one partner expected absolute obedience, and refused to listen to any of the concerns and beliefs and values of the other spouse and children
This would be a relationship devoid of compromise, devoid of interaction on any real level. You would even ask yourself why the non-compromiser was even in the relationship if they have no intentions of relating at all. The only possible answer is that their goal as to obtain absolute power over the people in the family and that they regard them as less-than and as the “other side” – 100% adversarial and dictatorial.
A complete shut-out and a winner takes all attitude towards governing actually has much more in common with a sporting event or even the Taliban than it does with our own government as it was intended to be.
But anyways, the following is not an example of compromise –
“We want to get married”
“NO”
Unless of course you are a new-style Republican
Patrick,
Thanks as always for commenting.
Two truths..no matter where one stands.
One, there is no way to run a government without the proper amount of revenues. In time of war there is no honor gained by not taxing for the conflict(s). Lincoln could have told President Bush a thing or two about that….
Two, from the very start of this nation compromise on every aspect of how this government of ours formed was required…big states vs. small…checks and balances…slaves or not…. To have any notion that compromise is not in fashion, or required, or beneath someone means they are not preapred to be in Congress…or Washington.
Would you compromise on gay marriage? I don’t think so. You would say–and I would agree–that some things are right and some things are wrong.
Democrats in the Senate have been an embarassment. They have not met their responsibility to pass a budget in over 800 days. How can that be justified? The president’s most recent budget was voted down in that same irresponsible senate 97 to 0! Earlier in the year he called for a “clean” hike in the debt ceiling–for what? He has put no specific spending cuts on paper that I am have seen, merely vague promises and more B.S. economics. He is a child who whines because he can’t get what he wants. Masterful…please. Empty would be more like it.