I was very impressed with President Obama’s State of the Union speech last night when he attempted to admonish both Democrats and Republicans on their abysmal record of getting anything accomplished for the American people due to bi-partisan pettiness. Our representatives in Congress are more concerned with being right than with working together for the American people. They are more concerned with re-election than they are with taking action. Their egos are all too often larger than their hearts.
I watched some very smug and arrogant expressions on the faces of the opposing party last night as the President spoke about putting aside personal vendettas and self-interests in favor of coming together for the benefit of the country. It reminds me of two people in a bad marriage who cannot get beyond their own egos and defensiveness to actually look at what might be at stake, what they might lose. Both parties are at fault. Neither is absolved of responsibility.
I suppose it is indigenous to politics. But as the President pointed out, and to which I wholly concur, now is not a time for politics as usual. There are incredible issues that must be addressed if we are to survive on this planet. It isn’t only limited to the economy or health care reform. It is about how globalization has leveled the playing field so that more and more people with new found middle class status demand more things that are depleting our natural resources as well as endangering our survival. It is time to set aside the small mindedness that has run politics.
