Electoral Consequences

By Douglas V. Gibbs
Author, Speaker, Instructor, Radio Host

“Elections have consequences, and at the end of the day, I won.” – President Obama to House Republican Whip Eric Cantor, January 23, 2009.

Based on that attitude, Barack Obama spent the next eight years pursuing a governing agenda that excludes and alienates the opposition.  He also spent his time hammering on his predecessor, claiming that the policies of George W. Bush were "dysfunctional," and that such policies "serves as a warning to us: and that is, societies don’t work when political factions take maximalist positions. And the more diverse the country is, the less it can afford to take maximalist positions."

Okay, Democrats, time to follow your own messiah's advice.

If a Democrat President is going to take the position that if he wins, it's his way or the highway, why wouldn't the Democrats bow down to a Republican if he had the same capabilities?  I am not saying I want Donald Trump to be an authoritarian prima donna like Obama was, but I sure as heck do want the other side to realize that in the end, Obama did in fact wander into a little truth when he said that elections have consequences.  If Barack Obama can run around with unhinged bravado, telling the Congress that he's going to do what he wants regardless of what they think, why can't a Donald Trump, with a compliant Republican Congress, do what he wants regardless of what the liberal left progressive utopian collectivist socialist statist communist Democrat bastards want?

Don't worry, Democrats.  The Republican Congress laid over and played dead when your guy was in the White House, but I have a feeling they won't be so forgiving to a President Trump if he doesn't play nice with them during his time in Washington.

That said, remember when the Democrats were pushing through their stimulus bills and Affordable Care Act?  Their attitude was that there was nothing Republicans could suggest that would be seriously considered by Democrats, let alone incorporated into any kind of legislation.  The Democrats held closed door meetings, and secretly put together many of their precious bills without even letting the Republicans know what was in it until the moment it was to be voted on.  The Democrats gave the GOP a stiff middle finger when the Republicans said they felt used and disrespected by their colleagues on the other side of the aisle. The Republicans voted against the stimulus unanimously, and the massive health care bill a year later also passed only along party lines.  There was no concern for what the Republicans wanted.  No suggestions were considered.  No compromises were made.  In fact, to ensure they got their way during the first two years of Obama's presidency, the Democrats on Capitol Hill used every procedural gimmick and backroom deal they could muster.

Obama, and the Democrats in Congress, were never willing to accommodate their political opponents during those first couple years when they had both Houses of Congress, and a Democrat in the White House, so why should Republicans not press forward with a similar "maximalist" agenda?  Why can't Trump be a "my way or the highway" President in regards to his attitude towards the Democrats?

Elections have consequences, after all.  The Democrat Party's precious hero, Barack Obama, said so.

The Republican Party, during those early days of the Obama Presidency, were demoralized after fighting a vicious battle in the 2008 Election that demonized Bush, and characterized every Republican as being a carbon copy of the "unpopular" President (unpopular because the media said so - the truth is not something that was never considered).  The first black president was enjoying a very high approval rating, and was being showered with praise from around the world before he even committed his first treasonous act against the American System.  The liberal left media said the GOP may never recover, that the Democrat mandate would go unopposed, and the result would be the death of the Republican Party.  Obama was not willing to compromise.  Why should he?  The opposition's fangs had been ripped out of their mouths, and his progressive base, feeling indestructible over the 2008 Election, would be horrified at the idea of working with Republicans.  Obama had no intention of working with the Republicans.  He, and his Democrat comrades, preferred putting a glossy black boot to their throats, instead.

The Democrats had the chance to at least encourage Republicans to buy into their stimulus bill.  They could have considered what the GOP might have to say about Obamacare.  But, they did neither.  So, while their stimulus package may have been smaller, and their health care bill may not have been so intrusive, they would have been able to say, "Hey, we tried to work with you, and we made compromises with you when we had all the power.  So, now that you have all the power, we expect you to try to work with us, as well."

Nope.  The authoritarian tactics, the "my way or the highway" attitude has come home to roost.  The Democrat's chickens have come back to haunt them.  They arrogantly, and smugly, believed they would have the America's political power forever.  The Democrats never believed the Republican Party would ever be a threat to their progressive policies ever again, so they acted as dictators, refusing to even consider a single word the GOP had to say.

Elections have consequences.  Barack Obama said so.  Obama never really considered having a negotiating partner.  There were no compromises he was willing to make, so why negotiate?  There was never any intention of reaching across the aisle.  So, why would the Republicans do the same, now?

The truth is, Americans didn’t elect Obama in 2008 because they were desperate for liberal left policies.   They elected him because they wanted to make history, and because he promised to unite the country - besides, he sounded so good when reading from a teleprompter.  He promised to fix our broken system, and he then beat the hell out of it and broke it even worse.  He defied the GOP, and spit on the U.S. Constitution.  He served only his own political interests, and never considered that one day his words would come back to bite him, or the Democrat Party.

Obama did, however, unite the country.  He united the country against the Democrats, and so in a resounding defeat against the Democrat establishment, Donald J. Trump won the 2016 Presidential Election.

Elections have consequences.  The Republicans hold the White House, and both Houses of Congress, beginning January 20, 2017 - Just like the Democrats did in 2008.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary