That underwhelming sense of bipartisanship
Barack Obama made a huge deal out of ending partisanship in DC.
He then pretty much slammed the door shut once he was elected. Democrats got all the positions of power. When Nancy Pelosi moved to squelch any chance of open, public debate on any issue, Obama was dutifully silent.
Yesterday we got a perfect example of just how partisan things are in DC under Obama’s spirit of bipartisanship. Obama had this opinion on the U.S. Department of Homeland Securitys Intercity Bus Security Grant Program:
“the awards are not based on risk assessment, and the homeland security investments in intercity bus security should be evaluated in the context of the risks faced and relative benefits to be gained.”
That opinion caused either one of two events to occur:
- The super-powerful American Bus Association sprung to action , rallying the voters to apply pressure all over the country. Feeling the pressure from disgruntled inter-city bus riders, Senators all over the country, including states that have no inter-city buses, caved under the pressure, and threw Obama under the inter-city bus and voted to keep the funding in place.
- OR, the fact that the amendment to remove the funding from appropriations was submitted by a Republican was too much to bear for the highly charged partisan Democrats and they couldn’t support it for that reason alone. Again, throwing Obama under the inter-city bus for no particular reason other than they couldn’t vote with a Republican.
Bottom line, Obama’s recommendation failed 51-47. It got so bad that among those voting against the amendment Obama recommended were Tim Johnson of South Dakota, Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, Harry Reid of Nevada ( of course ), Max Baucus and Jon Tester of Montana, Thomas Harkin of Iowa, both Daniel Akaka and Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, and Mark Begich of Alaska. Can anyone tell me why someone from Hawaii would feel they know more about urban bus security than the President of the United States of America? Senators with obviously no dog in this race felt compelled to go against the President, and most ranking member of their party, rather than support a Republican. The world’s not going to come crumbling down because we, according to Obama, are wasting another six million dollars. But, don’t expect any miracles from this leader. When push comes to shove, Obama disappears.
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