The Washington Sandbox

Credit:  Fox TV Screen Shot/Dick Bergeron

From November 4, 2008 when the charismatic oratory of  President Barack Obama lifted him to the U.S. Presidency,  the mood in the nation’s capital has since morphed from one of “Yes we can,” to “No can do.” Similarly,  the mantra of ”Hope and Change” has slithered into that of “Delusion and Stasis.”

Politicians within the Beltway are throwing sand into one another’s eyes, and most are holding to the position that none will stop this bullying play until someone – anyone – stops first.

Even worse, it resembles a modern-day version of gladiators fighting in the Roman Coliseum.  We Americans are being toyed with like lion bait in the sand pit below.

The best way that I can rationalize this forlorn situation is to view it as a contest between groups of alpha males and women.  All of them – hundreds of politicians from the White House to the halls of the Capitol building together with their retinues of like-minded advisors and lobbyists – have  a single goal in mind:  To win , simply to win, the public be damned.

No talking until one side gives up.

In a story appearing in Monday’s The Star-Ledger, Jenna Portnoy wrote about Governor Christie’s gubernatorial campaign against his opponent, New Jersey State Senator Barbara Buono. 

Portnoy quoted the governor about “adults entrenched in the system” who enjoy “ higher benefits, higher salaries and lifetime pensions.”  She went on to cite Christie, “I don’t care if you’re Republican, Democrat, Independent.  I don’t care if you’re a Communist.  The goal is to win and be in authority so you can govern.”

Think of the sheer penetrating honesty that comes through in that last statement, but don’t take Christie’s words out of context. 

His message needs to be combined with what he has said over and over again:  That the person in charge – the one who is governing – must also know how to negotiate and how to reach consensus with the opposite party, knowing that no one can have it all – not even the person in charge.

Christie was referring to the political situation in New Jersey, not to the unyielding morass unfolding in the Nation’s Capital. 

There, by the swirling waters of the Potomac, everyone it seems, wants to be in charge.  But few want to sit face to face and to negotiate in good faith.