Speaking at a taxpayer-funded campaign speech yesterday to workers at an automobile battery plant in Michigan, President Obama once again instructed Republicans to put country above party.
There is nothing wrong with our country. There is something wrong with our politics. The only thing keeping us back … is the refusal of some in Congress to put country ahead of party. Some in Congress would rather see their opponents lose than the country win. That has to stop, got to stop. We’re supposed to all be on the same team….
Lately Obama has elevated imploring Republicans to cease their divisive disagreeing with him up to the first rank of his teleprompted mantra, right up there with taxing millionaires and billionaires and corporate jet owners. About two weeks ago, you will recall, he said the same thing in his weekly radio address, pontificating from on high that “[t]he time for putting party first is over.”
You remember that, because you remember my commenting at the time on the irony of the fact that
the Tea Party Republicans are the only players in this entire drama who have consistently put their principles — another way of describing their beliefs about what is best for the nation — above any partisan concern over what is best for their party. If you doubt that, just ask John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, or listen to Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity, both of whom describe themselves as conservatives first and Republicans second.
Among the many lessons Obama should have learned by now, but hasn’t, is to be careful what you ask for.
