Talking to the wall

If you think that the President should reach out to reasonable Republicans, how about naming a reasonable Republican?

What Steve Benen says, in response to David Broder’s latest bit of nonsense - Broder thinks that putting John Boehner in charge of the agenda of the House will improve bipartisanship - can’t be said too often.

Broder’s column makes it seem as if President Obama may still be able to get some things done working with serious, well-intentioned Republicans. I’d be more inclined to agree if I could find some serious, well-intentioned Republicans.

Just today, a Republican friend was telling me that all would be well once “people of goodwill on both sides of the aisle” started working together. I asked him to name such a person on his side of the aisle. He changed the subject.

But I’ll put the challenge out to all comers: name a Republican member of Congress who would rather see the country succeed than see Barack Obama fail, and provide evidence for that claim.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com

11 thoughts on “Talking to the wall”

  2. Are we restricted to current, living, and/or contemporary members of Congress? That would make this a futile task.

  5. You've created a false dilemma Mark. It's not like one has to make a choice between hoping the country succeeds or hopint Obama fails. Rush Limbaugh had it right. It is precisely those who want the country to succeed that hope Obama fails.

  7. Zombie Charles Percy, perhaps? I think you'll only have to feed him a few Democratic brains before he wants to get down to fixing government.

  9. Actually, there are any number of Democrats (like Webb) who fit the description. If the Republicans would simply complete their Whiggish vanishing act we could get on with the divorce of the Progressive and DLC wings of the Democratic Party. Then perhaps (although I have my doubts) we could get on with the debate.

  11. The Democratic party will never allow the Republicans to go the way of the Whigs; It might result in an effective opposition party taking the GOP's place. As it is, they play too important a role in blocking the emergence of such an effective opposition.

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