After the elections, Democrats were just as much in denial that they had actually lost big, and even more astonished that the losses were as big as they were. This denial was surpassed only by their defiance that there will be no finding "common ground" with the Republican majority in Congress.
They played that tune for the last six years and it failed on Tuesday, and it appears that they plan to continue it. Even prominent "thrill up my leg" liberal Chris Matthews of MSNBC said that President Obama has no intention of finding common ground on immigration reform. This also means the president is not interested in common ground on anything, since immigration is his top issue, while it is not the top issue for the voters or the Republicans.
The Republicans got the message that it's the economy, because we ain't stupid!
Democrats do not want to find common ground. They want it their way or no way at all. If they persist with this failed attitude, they will suffer some more defeats in 2016.
If! That is, if the Republicans make some noticeable legislative advances, and implement an aggressive communications strategy of their achievements and the Democrats' defiance.
Thanks to the current Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, President Obama has not vetoed a bill in his six years in office. Reid simply stops them at his desk and they never move forward. The Republicans have stated they will put federal budgets on Obama's desk, and we will see what happens. My guess is that Obama will try to force the Senate to override his veto with a two-thirds majority vote.
The presumptive leaders of the House and Senate, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell respectively, said in the Wall Street Journal that Obamacare needs to be repealed and replaced. It has caused chaos in our health care system, and it's a drag on our economy. President Obama said that's a veto for sure.
The new congressional leaders want to move ahead with the Keystone pipeline approval. President Obama has been stalling with excuses for six years. Do you think he's going to change his mind? I don't think so.
The new Republican leadership in Congress wants to lower some of the most economically damaging tax rates to help boost economic growth. The ultimate solution, of course, is to replace the entire tax code, but that's not going to happen. It's not in the Democrats' political DNA, and even lowering some rates will cause the Democrats to have severe heart palpitations.
These are just some of the common ground "low hanging fruit", but the Democrats have made no indication that they are interested in such Republican intentions.
The proof is in the pudding, and I doubt that they even
had any pudding at the much publicized luncheon last Friday between the president and the new Republican leaders in Congress.
I would like to be more optimistic, but I have yet to see any promising narrative coming from the Democrats or the president.
Common ground starts with common sense and a common purpose, which means listening to the people. The Democrats ain't listening ... yet!
