October 9, 2013
By John Zogby
Washington, DC – President Obama won the first round of the shutdown fight, but at the same time failed to show leadership and lead Washington to a solution. Normally I review the president's week as a college professor would by looking at a student's performance. This week I have been reassigned as a principal of a middle school during and after a cafeteria fight. Make no mistake, the GOP is the big loser again on this shutdown.
By refusing to accept the legitimacy of a twice-elected president and a law that has been passed by both houses of Congress, signed by a president and ratified by a Supreme Court, they have lost touch with reality and threaten the normal conduct of business according to the Constitution. I can almost hear the death rattle from their pronouncements as they sling the mashed potatoes across the room. A small group of bullies has started a fight and doesn't have the good sense to realize that it is hurting its own side. When does a group with a 10 percent job performance rating actually claim victory against someone with more than four times that rating?
But a good principal cools things down by suspending all perpetrators — a warning that the next time means expulsion. The president won this round and the sloppy Joes are coming right back at the Republicans. So this week the president has to pay, too. But any more bullying by the GOP and I am calling the police.
Grade – D
