Partisan tribes in Washington and their constituents around the country spent a lot of time blaming each other Saturday for the federal government shutdown that resulted after Senate Democrats and Republicans failed to pass a funding bill.
Talking points are readily available for people on either side. The Washington Post even put them all together in a handy "cheat sheet" you can use to create memes and preach to the choir on your Facebook page. No need to listen to the other side. No need to compromise. No need to change your mind about anything. No need to waste time on original thought or research. Just pick a response that corresponds to the preconceived beliefs you share with your tribe and assign blame to the other side.
In searching for a way forward, I found myself agreeing with President Donald Trump. Specifically, I agree with what he told "Fox & Friends" amid the last government shutdown in 2013, which he blamed on then-President Barack Obama:
"Problems start from the top, and they have to get solved from the top,” Trump said. “The president is the leader, and he’s got to get everybody in a room and he’s got to lead. ... In 25 years or 50 years or 100 years from now, when they talk about the government shutdown, they're going to be talking about the president of the United States -- who was the president at that time. They're not going to be talking about who the head of the House was, the head of the Senate. ... So I really think the pressure is on the president.”
Trump's ever-shifting and often-contradictory statements are a cheat sheet of their own. You can find a Trump opinion for any side you're on. For example, here's what he said at 3:33 Saturday morning -- via Twitter, of course -- about the latest federal shutdown.
“This is the One Year Anniversary of my Presidency and the Democrats wanted to give me a nice present.#DemocratShutdown."
Or how about this one he tweeted a few minutes earlier?
"Democrats are far more concerned with Illegal Immigrants than they are with our great Military or Safety at our dangerous Southern Border. They could have easily made a deal but decided to play Shutdown politics instead. #WeNeedMoreRepublicansIn18 in order to power through mess!"
So what happened to the guy who was supposed to be such a great deal maker? The guy who told us during his campaign in 2016, “Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.”
How could such a brilliant negotiator, someone who has acknowledged -- or at least used to -- that the buck stops with the president, fail to lead opposing sides to a deal on one of government's most basic responsibilities: staying open?
Do I blame the president? Yep. Do I blame the Democrats? You bet. Do I blame the Republicans? Yes, I do.
And I apply those labels broadly. During the last shutdown, I floated a hypothesis: If our democracy is really run by the people who elect the politicians, then a polarized populace has to be largely responsible. And I found evidence that both supported and countered my theory.
Since then, polls show, partisan vitriol has poisoned even more Americans.
“The divisions between Republicans and Democrats on fundamental political values -- on government, race, immigration, national security, environmental protection and other areas -- reached record levels during Barack Obama’s presidency,” the nonpartisan Pew Research Center says in an October report. “In Donald Trump’s first year as president, these gaps have grown even larger.”
I am more convinced than ever that one of the biggest reasons Washington politicians fail to agree on almost anything important is because the people who send them there won't let it happen.
-- Courier and Daily Comet Executive Editor Keith Magill can be reached at 857-2201 or keith.magill@houmatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter @CourierEditor.