By Salvatore Guardino
Barrack Obama’s campaigning during the month of October was not an act of desperation, nor one of strength. He wanted to get sympathy for the Democratic Party. His primary objective was to make the Republicans look as bad as possible, and make the Democrats look like the underdogs. This effort was futile though as the Republicans took the majority in Congress after the 2010 elections. Thus we need the “Slurpee Summit” to lay the problems between the two parties out on the table.
The name “Slurpee Summit” is the unofficial name of the first of many meetings between the GOP leaders, the President and Democrats. The Summit was given its name as a result of the President’s motto-like statement during the campaign. He made the analogy that the Republicans drove the metaphorical car of the economy into a ditch, and that the Democrats were pushing and shoving from the bottom to get the “car” out while the Republicans “stood there sipping on a Slurpee.”
Today after the meeting closed, the President called it a good start. He had this to say during a post meeting press conference, “It is no secret that we have had differences that have led us to part ways on many issues in the past. But we are Americans first and we share a responsibility of stewardship to our nation. People did not vote for gridlock.” He goes on to talk about how he hopes to have more meetings in due time with the GOP leaders. He has made the point over the past month and since the election that people did not vote for a lame-duck congress. They voted for change in the economy. Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell agreed that they made good progress with the President during their meeting. He states this to the press after the meeting, “We had a very frank conversation. Democrats and Republicans and the President understood what the American people had to say on Election Day very clearly.” The meeting was a change for the Republicans as this was their first large meeting as the majority in the government. They had the upper hand.
Though both sides played nice during the meeting, this in no way can signal the future. Democrats and Republicans alike agree that making a fight with someone from the opposing party is not a good way to gain support. This meeting was simply to please the American people. As long as the two opposing parties look like they plan to get things done, the American people will buy into it. This is either the start of a long process to a good economy, or a misleading beginning to an unproductive two years.