Real Problem-Solving or Grandstanding?

Awaiting what now seems to be an inevitable "government shutdown", it's interesting to take a step back and look at the whole fight from a distance.

The current argument is about setting the budget for the remainder of the year. Republicans proposed cutting either 61 or 71 billion through the end of the year, but so far I'm not completely clear on which number is right. Democrats countered with a reported cut of $33 billion, but in typical Washington sleight-of-hand, they count their cuts against Obama's proposed budget instead of the current spending levels. Which some say is no cut at all in comparison to this year's reality.

The fight is over more than the numbers themselves. The Republican plan targets liberal sacred cows long hated on the right, specifically Planned Parenthood and Public Broadcasting. Democrats have promised to fight to the bitter end to protect those two pillars of liberalism.

Then there's the EPA. The GOP proposal rolls back Obama's unilateral imposition of suffocating fossil fuel restrictions enforced by the EPA through the concept that they now have the right to control CO2 emissions as a pollutant. Yes, that's the gas we all emit when we exhale. The bill strips the ability of the EPA to restrict, shut down, deny permits, and otherwise harrass energy companies in the pretense of saving the planet from global climate change (formerly known as global warming).

Obama's publicly dead set against having his EPA restrictions rolled back. The usual suspects, led by Reid and Pelosi, are already predicting widespread deaths from disease and starvation because the evil GOP somehow desires to shift money from the
"safety net" into the pockets of fat cat corporate types.

When in the end, the current fight is between an actual drop in the water bucket versus an imaginary one.

And the debate has barely started over the next budget, just unveiled by Paul Ryan and his GOP budget committee colleagues. Think fighting over CO2 regulation, Planned Parenthood and Public Broadcasting is tough? Just wait to see the fight that breaks out over the dismantling of Obamacare, shifting of Medicaid to the States, gradual increases in the retirement age, and pay freezes for Federal Employees.

Which of those will make Democrats angriest? I think it's close, but I'd pick a narrow victory of the Federal Pay Freeze over killing Obamacare. Because they'll always put their personal interests above their ideology - ergo the biggest fight will be to keep their own pay and benefits rolling in.

It's quite ironic to hear Obama blast the Republicans for being ideological in what he characterizes are their unwillingness to compromise. Does he really expect us to believe that he's the non-ideological, practical problem-solver adult in the room? Wow.