Policy vs Politics

For John, BLUF:  President Eisenhower's Granddaughter, Susan, has joined your political party.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

The growing trend toward isolationism, both on the far "left" of the Democratic Party and on the "right" of the Republican Party, has sparked Susan Eisenhower to argue against "acrimonious gridlock" down in Washington.

It appears that our politicians don’t know the difference between politics and policy anymore, which has brought us to a leadership crisis at the very point in our history when our country’s future depends on our capacity to find compromise. Political leadership is about taking responsibility for one’s actions, putting the country first, and demonstrating moral courage.  That sense of moral bravery, seemingly absent in recent times, would have required both sides to engage in a series of intensive closed door sessions until they had hammered out a comprehensive deal—which would have averted other rounds of crises.  Instead, over the last eighteen months they “negotiated” with each other via Twitter, Facebook and friendly 24/7 cable programs.  This wasn’t a serious effort to find a solution for the country; it was only an attempt to talk to their supporters.  Guess who was listening and watching?

News just in tells us that President Obama is now reaching out to the Republicans to see if a compromise is possible.  This is a welcomed move.  We need to reverse our image overseas that the federal government is hobbled by paralysis and dissension.  If we don’t, our nation’s rivals and adversaries may have all the information they really need to know.  Appearances of acrimonious gridlock or a failure of “collective will” can be more important intelligence for a foreign power than any specific security breech.

Of course there is the problem of what to do when there are actual policy differences.  If you say Keynes and I say Hayek, what is the "compromise" position?  Of course George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin explained this to us back in 1937, with this song from Shall We Dance.

Regards  —  Cliff