In his Daily Show appearance last night, President Obama made a very revealing–and presumably inadvertent–statement about those in Congress who have supported his radical agenda.
In the context of many congressional seats being up for grabs in what pundits and prognosticators are predicting to be a GOP wave election, Obama stated that many of his allies in Congress voted for politically tough bills because they believed “it was the right thing to so” despite being in conservative-leaning districts.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Barack Obama Pt. 2 | ||||
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On the surface, what the President says sounds so noble. These politicians are doing what they think is right. They’re standing up despite outside pressure! Except they aren’t standing up for the right people: their constituents. “Doing what they think is right” is warm and fuzzy code for “what Nancy Pelosi / President Obama tells them is right.”
Elected officials aren’t supposed to vote for what is right in their minds alone. What seems right in the halls of power amidst meetings with tax-eater special interests and arm-twisting White House political hacks is quite likely not what’s right for the people elected officials are supposed to represent. This sort of backwards thinking, internalized even by the President, is exactly why the American electorate is upset with the political status quo. Elected officials are supposed to vote for what is right in the minds of their constituents for whom they work.
This concept is a foreign notion to the political class, particularly the liberals who currently have the reins and are, to borrow an analogy from the President and funny-guy-turned-scary Senator Al Franken, driving our country off a cliff. They believe that it is their job to determine what is right and then “communicate” it to the ignorant, confused masses, which is why they are already selling the likely losses in the upcoming election as PR issues. But it isn’t. It’s the policy, stupid.
If, as President Obama states, members of Congress are making “tough” votes that are tough because they are in sharp contrast to the will of their constituents, then these members are, by definition, not doing their jobs. Hopefully voters will keep this in mind as they exercise their right next Tuesday to make some serious personnel changes.
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