Don’t hold breath over McConnell

Debra J. Saunders’ Nov. 9 column, “McConnell at Senate helm could actually ease gridlock” is too ridiculous to ignore. It doesn’t matter when McConnell said, “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.” He has stuck to this plan at the expense of getting legislation passed in the Senate. We have seen the Republicans routinely abandon legislation they once supported just to be against anything President Obama wanted.

Anyone who thinks McConnell “wants to work on areas of agreement with Obama” is deluded. Cooperation with Republicans has come to mean the Democrats must abandon their principles and cave to the Republicans’ side. That is not compromise. There is also no legitimate comparison between Harry Reid’s gentlemanly leadership in the Senate and McConnell’s obstinate obstructionism that he will likely continue as Majority Leader. While Reid has worked to actually get legislation passed, McConnell has done the opposite. McConnell’s first test will be to see if he meant it when he said, “There will be no government shutdowns.”

Sharon Damkaer

Monroe