Republicans' Arrested Development

When one of my grandkids was four, we played ferocious card games. He took losing hard, even after I pointed out that if he always won no one would play with him.

He is a young man now with a decided gift for nuanced political analysis, but Congressional GOP members seem stuck where he was then, bent on winning at all costs and oblivious to the give-and-take of mature negotiation.

A few who signed Grover Norquist’s no-tax pledge in knee-pants are re-thinking a position that amounts to holding your breath until you get your way, but the vast majority are still suffering from the kind of arrested development that gridlocked Barack Obama’s first term and threatens to carry over into the second.

That’s why in his Weekly Address the President tells voters “it’s unacceptable for some Republicans in Congress to hold middle class tax cuts hostage simply because they refuse to let tax rates go up on the wealthiest Americans. And if you agree with me, then I could use your help. Let your congressman know what $2,000 means to you. Give them a call. Write them an email. Or tweet them using the hashtag ‘My2K.’”

In short, tell them to grow up and get serious.

Norquist is predicting renewed success with threatening to deprive GOP lawmakers of dessert at the ballot box, but the President seems to have something more adult in mind as he tries to fold new economic stimulus into his dealings with Congress.

John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, get out of the playpen and meet my grandson.