NAN Washington, DC Bureau News: Stop In the Name of Love

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Aug 12, 2011

by Janaye Ingram

Donnie Hathaway and Roberta Flack once had a huge hit with, “Where is the Love”. It’s a song that some on Capitol Hill should be singing. Right now, there is no love lost between the Republicans and Democrats and the result is that the rest of us are suffering. A little less than a year ago when the Republicans took over the House, GOP Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell essentially said that the goal of the Republican party was to see Obama fail. By no means am I taking literary license with that statement. The exact quote is, “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.” But wait Mr. McConnell, what about education? What about healthcare? What about social security, jobs, the economy??? Where is the love for the people you serve? There’s another popular song that comes to mind and part of it says, “It’s a thin line between love and hate.” I guess that line was crossed a while ago. But hate targeted at the President and the current administration spills over and touches each one of us. If he’s unable to do the job he was elected to do, no matter which party you profess as your one true love, we all end up broken hearted.

Current polls show that Americans are siding with the President in regards to the deficit and budget management. A poll by NBC/WSJ showed that 58% of respondents preferred the President’s proposal for lowering the deficit. And what “We The People” want could be potentially falling on deaf ears. Recently, we have seen actions by some Republicans on local, state and the national level that are just jaw-dropping, mouth-gaping, and unbelievably audacious. In Wisconsin, the GOP put “fake” Democrats on the ballots for the special elections being held for state senate seats. These Republican candidates were added to the Democrat ballot and then to ensure that they would get votes, the Republican Party spent money on phone banks and TV ads – all aimed at making people believe that they were voting for Democrats; all six of the candidates lost. But that is just one example.

One new piece of legislation being introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas is called the “Hinder the Administration’s Legalization Temptation” or “HALT Act”. This is as targeted as you can get. Essentially the legislation limits the authority of the President to decide how to handle immigration enforcement. But here’s the kicker – the bill would expire after the next inauguration. I say again, these are jaw-dropping, mouth gaping, and unbelievably audacious attempts to stand in the way of this President’s success and limit his power. It’s not all Republicans, but as the saying goes, a few bad apples can spoil the bunch or at least the perception of the bunch. As we continue to grapple with unemployment, issues in education, social security, healthcare and other real life challenges, the few GOP members that are focused on taking down the President almost seems as if they don’t care if the nation goes tumbling down with him. Democrats and Republicans are in a marriage of leading the country and at some point, both parties will have to bend in order to make the marriage work, because divorce is not an option. At the end of the day, both sides love this country – of that, I’m almost sure, but right now we need to start singing a new song. It goes, “Stop in the name of love, before you break our collective hearts and this nation that we all love.”