Robert Kuttner on the need for presidential leadership in the face of obstruction:
The dysfunction of American democracy has become a standard bit of conventional wisdom. It’s certainly true that a bias against government action is baked into our constitutional cake, with its checks, balances, and multiple veto points. It’s also true that conservative obstructionism has reached a new peak in recent years. The prime source of today’s extreme dysfunction is less the republic than the Republican Party.
A number of smart commentators, from E.J. Dionne to John Podesta, have aptly observed that we now have a semi-parliamentary system, in which the opposition party can block but the governing party can’t govern. And despite Barack Obama‘s best efforts to pursue common ground, the Republicans have cynically concluded that rendering the Democrats ineffectual is preferable to coming together to solve national problems.
