Republicans react

Republican reactions to President Obama's inaugural address suggest a persistence of the underlying attitude that he has no right to be there, that they are the rightful leaders and that only they have the right plan for the future.

Mitch McConnell lamented that "The era of liberalism is back. . . . obviously it's not designed to bring us together, and certainly not designed to deal with the transcendent issue of our era, which is deficits and debt."

Others called it divisive, without reaching out to them with offers to compromise.

Charles Krauthammer praised it as an "awesome" speech but faulted it for not reaching out to restore the bipartisanship with Republicans.   John McCain seemed to like his promise to address climate change and even applauded his mention of marriage equality, but he too criticized it as divisive.

One of Obama's memorable lines was this:   "The commitments we make to each other – through Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security – these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great. . ."   This was a pointed reference to Paul Ryan's budget priorities.  Ryan has often referred to those who are takers and those who are makers.

Ryan responded on FoxNews, saying the president was setting up a straw man to debunk and that he had misconstrued their position on entitlements.   Please explain just how your statements have been misconstrued, Mr. Ryan.  We understand you don't want to be held accountable for what you actually said.

Let them complaim.   They have been beaten -- in spite of trying to rig the election in their favor.   Chris Matthews, never one for under-statement, made the bold claim that the only way Republicans will ever win elections in the future now will be by rigging the election in their favor.   Republican in the Virginia legislature just pulled a surprise vote on redistricting while one Democrat was in D. C. for the inauguration, which gave the evenly-split body a one-vote majority.   That's the sort of thing he means, along with voter ID laws, hours long waits at the polls, etc.

Obama tried so hard to govern by compromise that he gave away far too much and came close to losing his progressive wing.   He has learned his lesson and now seems capable of standing firm and using his power.    In addition he has people power behind him.

It's curious that the Republicans' main claim is that he was going his own (liberal) way and not reaching out to them.   Please tell me how that is different, except in direction, to their clearly stated agenda for the past four years.

He's also not being divisive.  He is in synch with the majority of the people.  It's the Republicans who are cutting themselves out by their extreme positions that are supported only by the right fringe.

Ralph