Taking Responsibility for Speaker Debacle

As the nation and the world “watch’ democracy in action, there must be some leaders elsewhere around the world wondering what is wrong in America. Besides knowing that America has a multitude of problems/issues that her political leaders can’t seem (or don’t want) to fix, the next thing that the world must be wondering is…who elected these guys? When Barack Obama was elected as the nation’s first Black president, a Black family finally took up residence in the White House, many in the world probably said that they “finally got something right”. That didn’t last long. Donald Trump got elected. Republicans suddenly were in charge of Washington and “all” of America in Trump’s words were going to be fixed by him. Four years of Trump passed, and we are still fixing America’s problems. When Republicans won back the House in 2022, expectations were high even though they lost the White House. The “plans of mice and men sometimes go astray” in the House for Republicans right over the edge of the cliff. The House of Representatives is supposed to be where leaders in charge of taking care of America’s business do the serious work. That is when they are working. As of most of 2023, there has been hardly any work done by the House except for President Joe Biden’s Infrastructure Bill being signed into law. The rest of the time has been filled with political bickering and infighting by the Republicans, the party that’s in charge of the House. We all knew it was a bad sign when it took Republicans 15 ballots to elect a speaker in the first place. From there it’s been all downhill. The guy that they elected speaker was effectively neutered by the ones who put him in the position by getting him to agree that it would take only one House member to call for his removal. Matt Gaetz was none too happy to be the guy who took McCarthy up on his offer. Now McCarthy and Republicans are on the outside looking in, as the House has come to a standstill. We must remember that Republicans were the ones who kept saying that they know how to govern, but as of now, they can’t elect a speaker within themselves.

For a short time, Republicans started pointing fingers at each other on where things went wrong. Even at Matt Gaetz. Even when they thought that they got things right by nominating Louisiana’s Steve Scalise to be the next speaker, he bailed out. Now it seems that they are stuck with of all people, Ohio’s Jim Jordan. Talk about going from bad to worse. As of now, Jordan is not a lock because he has a lot of baggage. A university wrestling scandal at Ohio State hangs over his head. And in the midst of Republicans’ failure to elect a speaker because of their infighting, Democrats are happily sitting on the sidelines as the band plays on. Republicans, aware that everyone is watching them go through this debacle of their own doing, are deploying a “tried and true” strategy of deflecting blame on the other side. Yes, they are blaming Democrats for their failures. Even though Democrats had no part in removing McCarthy, the exiled speaker is joining his “Brutus” colleagues in Congress blaming Democrats because they didn’t lend a hand to prevent McCarthy from walking the plank. They have been going on cable networks singing the same song that Democrats including President Biden, are the reason why they “can’t” elect a new speaker. Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley started the blame trend when she said that there is “chaos” within the Biden Administration because of “weakness” by the President in not solving the nation’s problems. A Texas Republican congressman wanted to blame immigration and inflation issues as weakness on Biden that somehow are preventing Republicans from electing who they want to lead the House. That’s a law of Physics where Republicans on Fox could get the base to believe is true, by saying that “two objects CAN occupy” the same space at the same time. Republicans also know that if enough of them constantly say the same thing on right-wing media, the blame just might shift enough for them to come up with “plan z”. It’s like throwing a brick and putting your hand behind your back. It’s like being caught with cookies in your hand, the cookie jar open, and no one else is around except the family dog. Guess who will take the blame? Republicans are handing Democrats a treasure trove of campaign fodder for them to use in the 2024 elections. They don’t need to rewrite the script, as the actors are already auditioning for their roles. Let them have the stage because as far as Republicans are concerned the world is their stage. Remember, the world is watching. So is God.