In an effort to save American democracy from the evil tyrant, “King Obama the First,” Speaker of the House John Boehner revealed that he plans to sue the president for overstepping his constitutional authority.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is where the American democracy stands in 2014.
Government is almost completely paralyzed by out-of-control partisanship, inane tactics that prevent Congress from completing the people’s business, while a visibly frustrated President Obama attempts to salvage what’s left of his presidency.
Ironically enough, it’s Obama’s response to congressional inaction that ultimately led to Boehner’s threat of legal action. Presidents are allowed to sign executive orders, which use the power of the executive branch to help push policies that in some cases, cannot or will not come out of the legislative branch. What’s even more laughable about Boehner’s valiant effort to save democracy is that Obama’s use of executive orders lags far behind his predecessors.
As of now, Obama has signed 182 executive orders, lagging behind the 291 signed by George W. Bush and the 364 signed by Bill Clinton. By comparison, Franklin Roosevelt signed 3,522 during his time in office. King Obama, indeed!
At a time when the U.S. economy is still struggling to gain significant traction, Iraq has devolved into a chaotic nightmare, and the immigration crisis along the U.S.-Mexican border is out of control, Boehner is placating the far right by suing a president who happens to be a constitutional lawyer, suggesting Obama has exceeded his constitutional authority.
The petulant children allegedly leading our great country continue to be more concerned with scoring political points and hearing their sound bites on cable news than running the country. Honestly, has there ever been a group of such self-obsessed, thickheaded jesters running the funny farm in Washington? To solve the crises our nation and the world face, it’s well past time for our leaders to put aside the partisan drudgery and accomplish a goal — any goal — that leads to a positive future for our country. Neither party is right and neither is wrong; what is needed is a confluence of decent ideas from both Democrats and Republicans that could actually help push an agenda forward and finally bring an end to the era of useless brinksmanship.
Young people have a pretty wretched opinion of their government and our leaders, and with good reason. Sadly, the leaders of our parents’ generation seemingly wiped their rears with the accomplishments of previous generations, focusing on themselves rather than the nearly 400 million Americans counting on them.
Governing is not for the selfish, but we the people have found ourselves in a position where we have elected a sizable group of people who cares little about the American people and only about their own self-image.
Obama wants to do the right thing, but he’s found few allies in Washington and for all intents and purposes sees the writing on the wall: No one in the Republican Party will meet you halfway.
Individuals — many of whom subscribe to the tea party’s conservative philosophies — who were elected on a platform that government is the root of all evil and must be abolished have accomplished their goal by successfully running two of our three branches of government into the ground.
Obama’s belief that those of different backgrounds can work together to accomplish great things have been greatly eroded and his patience — along with the millions who didn’t elect the leaders in Congress — seem to be at an end. Where is our country going and what do we want to accomplish in the 21st century are two questions we must ask of our leaders and ourselves?
For the sake of the American democracy and its future, the children running the cuckoo house in Washington must end this nightmare or step out of the way so actual leaders can guide our nation into the future. We have the power to change that with our votes this fall. How will you use it?
[Joel Mendelson is a UF grad student in political campaigning. His columns appear on Thursdays. A version of this column ran on page 6 on 7/3/2014 under the headline "Suing Obama: Symptom of DC insanity"]
