Barely three days after the Senate seemed to have resolved the impasse over confirmation of the president’s judicial nominees, the Democratic majority has returned to its obstructionist tactics in forcing a delay of the vote to confirm John Bolton as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. Leaders of the minority party claimed that the “White House has stonewalled on information that might prove damaging to Bolton, whose brusque style Democrats said would be ill-suited to U.N. diplomacy. I actually think his brusque style would help the U.N. confront its own corruption and its hesitancy to act against gross human rights violations around the world.
Four of the seven Democrats who hammered out the compromise on judicial filibusters joined all but three of their minority-party colleagues in voted to filibuster Bolton.
The Democrats’ real goal here is to prevent the confirmation of Bolton who enjoys majority support in the Senate–and continues to do after the Senate has considered his nomination for nearly three months.
It has been nearly seven months since the president was decisively reelected to a second term, winning a majority of the popular vote, something only one incumbent Democratic president has done since the Second World War. And he did so as his party increased its majority in the Senate. When Bill Clinton was reelected in 1996 and Reagan in 1984, each man’s party respectively lost two seats in the Senate.
It’s time for the Democrats to accept the president’s reelection and stop trying to obstruct his nominees. They’ve had their chance to raise their objections in the Senate — to try to sway the majority Republicans. Even after they have failed to get majority support for their causes, the minority party is engaging in juvenile gamesmanship to limit the president from exercising his constitutional mandate to appoint federal judges — and certain executive branch officials.
Democrats need to stop playing games and let the president do his job. It seems that despite the president’s popular mandate, they still think that they know better what is right for the country that he does. They’re not conducting themselves like a responsible opposition party, but like children who haven’t gotten their way. It seems they need a little parental discipline.
I dare say that the Democrat’s obstructionist games will only hurt their party in the eyes of the American people and help Republicans increase their majority in the Senate in 2006. Despite the GOP’s flaws, it is at least trying to govern our great nation. And all the Democrats can do is obstruct with the seeming rationale that they have to because the GOP is a horrible, no good very bad party. It’s time for Democrats to let the Republicans govern and to do a better job of articulating why they oppose the Administration’s policies.
-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com