A Sample of Divisiveness
After the State of The Union address last night, I approached a coworker who leans very left for his take. I was honestly curious; I thought the President tried to embrace some of the issues from the left, even if he tried to sell only Republican solutions to them.
"I can't watch that man any more, he makes me too angry."
How is anyone supposed to reach across the aisle if there is no one there to listen? How can you argue to find compromise when your arguments can't even be heard?
He then challenged whether I supported the troop surge. I said yes, although I wished the number was even higher. He mocked that opinion, and when I asked for his success strategy, he asserted that success was impossible; our presence was the reason people were killing each other, and we should just give up and go home. At least he was honest, even if I can't grasp his reasoning.
Comments
You did say you went to someone who leans very far to the left. That makes it hard to justify your "no one there to listen."
The liberals who want to talk to someone on the other side of the aisle can speak with McCain or Specter. Cheney, Bush, etc. won't listen. The conservatives who want to compromise can speak with Obama, Leahey... Kennedy and Pelosi may not have time for you. Aimee Smith certainly won't.
It would be nice if the moderates could join and push into orthogonal directions, but I don't see them taking the first step. That will be taken by an extremist, and after the moderates fail to recapture him into the general political system, they may do something interesting.
Posted by: Brian Sniffen![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.cozikin.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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January 25, 2007 01:08 PM
You raise a good point.
Posted by: Andy![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.cozikin.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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January 26, 2007 11:03 AM