Republicans Won, Now They Must Show They Can Govern? Like (BLEEP!) They Do, Says Jay Rosen

Rosen:

NPR’s Congressional reporter, Ailsa Chang, did it Wednesday morning. About Mitch McConnell, soon to be Senate leader, she said:

If he wants to see the Republicans retain the majority beyond 2016, he has to be able to prove that his party can be more than just the party of no. That means reasonable legislation that they can realistically expect the president to sign.

... [2 more commentators' statements of similar ilk]

These are false statements. I don’t know how they got past the editors. You can’t simply assert, like it’s some sort of natural fact, that Republicans “must show they can govern” when an alternative course is available. ...

The alternative to “show you can govern” is to keep President Obama from governing. Right? Keep him from accomplishing what he wants to get done in his final two years and then “go to the country,” as Karl Rove used to say, with a simple message: time for a change!

...

Rosen is absolutely right. Republicans have not done anything toward governance in the years since Obama became president, and there is no reason whatsoever to assume they will do so now or at any time while he is still president.

Obama must, as much as I regret the fact, govern by fiat, by executive order, to the full extent allowed by the Constitution, and that's quite an extent. His doing so should please rank-and-file Republicans, right? They liked it when GeeDubya did exactly that, and... what? oh, right... IOKIYAR.

Obama's declaration yesterday on immigration reform, while less than perfect, is a good start toward resuming his actual participation in government. His recent statement on net neutrality sounded as if he might have grown a pair; he even impressed Lawrence Lessig. I am willing to see Obama grab a sword and lay about him for his last two years in office; yes, it's a risk to do so, but considering who may succeed him in office, consequences are probably better than two years of doing nothing while Boner and Turtle eat his lunch every day and do Dog-knows-what to the nation on their way to a GOP presidency that may quite literally never end.

Damn, I hate being put in a position in which President Obama is our nation's last, best hope for establishment of a sane government. I think that sound was Jefferson turning in his grave...