Imagining President Romney
The subject of partisanship is something that has been weighing on me greatly and frequently the last several weeks. I do not often write about politics anymore because of the senseless debate that follows with the name-calling, labeling and talking point trading.
However a friend of mine recently asked why partisanship is a bad thing, and what it really is. He thought it was perhaps someone just standing for what they believe in, which can certainly be admirable. But that is not what it is.
I want you to imagine with me what the world would be like if, just for example sake, Mitt Romney had been elected as president in the 2008 election. Now the second key element is, that in this alternate world we are imagining, that as president Mitt Romney had done all of the same things as president that President Obama has done.
Now let’s ask ourselves a few questions.
Do you think that Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, the whole dominating right wing media and the majority of Republicans in office would have mocked President Romney for using a teleprompter? It is, after all, a device that is used so that a person can read their prepared remarks without looking down at the podium the whole time. Every president for the last 40 years has used one, so it seems very unlikely that this would have happened to Mitt Romney.
If Romney were president and he had increased troop levels in Afghanistan by 30,000, do you think that Dick Cheney would have said he was “dithering” because he took too long? Do you think that Republicans and right wing pundits would have accused Romney of intentionally endangering American troops and trying to do harm to America? I would have my doubts.
If President Romney had given a unifying speech to college students in which he said, “We do not consider ourselves a Jewish nation or a Christian nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values” do you believe that Sean Hannity would have edited the clip to just say “we are not a Christian nation” and then claim that he said we are a Muslim nation? That would be incredibly dishonest, so Hannity surely would not simply lie to tarnish the reputation of his fellow conservative.
When President Romney passed a major healthcare overhaul and instead of increasing governments influence, he instead left the care of Americans in the hands of the health insurance and pharmaceutical companies with a few regulations, would you expect anyone—let alone Republicans—to call him a socialist?
I could go on and on, but last of all, if a President Romney led administration orchestrated a military or CIA operation that led to the killing of Osama Bin Laden, it would be huge. They would carve Mitt Romney’s face twice as big as the rest onto Mount Rushmore. The mention of Ronald Reagan at that point would be met be Republicans with squinted eyes and a foggy “Who?” And most applicably now, Republicans and conservatives would not flock to their Facebook accounts to vehemently post “Let’s get one thing straight: this is not a Romney victory.”
Because that is the definition of partisanship. It does not care what is good or right, it cares only if it was the person who you like who did something. Partisanship halts progress and divides people. Partisanship is why conservatives are afraid of government having too much power over health care, but it does not concern them that the same government controls enough nuclear weapons to literally destroy all life on earth. Partisanship is why if Barack Obama cured every form of cancer today, tomorrow’s broadcast of the Sean Hannity show would rip into him for thoughtlessly causing overpopulation.
Partisanship is the reason that there was a conspiracy in the first place about Barack Obama’s nation of birth, one that despite all logic still rages on. It is why we talk about Reverend Wright instead of foreign policy. It is why we talk about “Real America” instead of the necessity of military spending. It is at the heart of the reason that we rarely discuss issues; we discuss people. We fight back and forth with each other about these celebrities, pundits and politicians, and often end up dividing our nation in half; each side believing the other to be villains.
To overcome partisanship we must no longer be loyal and passionate supporters of political parties. We cannot have our political and moral thoughts, ideas and reasoning summed up in one word (liberal/conservative) or summarized in a short-sighted bumper sticker. In short, we must do what we really and thoughtfully believe is right and what is best for America and the world and humanity, and not what is best for “our side.”
