In a blatant act of partisanism, Senate Republicans voted overwhelmingly against confirming Timothy Geithner as the Secretary of the Treasury. Geithner was confirmed, 60-34, with 30 Republicans voting "no," including John McCain (Ariz.) and the ranking Republican in the Senate Finance Committee, Chuck Grassley (Iowa). Fifty of the 60 Geithner supporters were Democrats. While the partisan split did not impact Geithner's confirmation, it is still a disheartening and overt indication that partisan divides are not going away.
Both McCain's concession speech and President Barack Obama's victory speech after November's presidential election stressed the need to put aside partisan differences and work as a whole for the betterment of the United States in these difficult times, and yet now, not even three months later, the split that seems to divide the Democrats and the Republicans has become a canyon of resentment and bitterness. While it is almost certain that hard feelings and disappointed hopes will inevitably be the result of any political race (at least for one side), allowing those feelings to dictate important choices, especially at the beginning of a new administration facing troubled times, is selfish and shortsighted.
Although the Republican Party no longer has the control it enjoyed during the Bush administration, that does not give it the right to sulk in a proverbial corner and refuse to cooperate or acknowledge the decisions made by the new commander-in-chief. With both Republicans and Democrats suffering under the harsh economic conditions, the primary concern of every senator should be the well-being of his country and his constituents, not using their political power to block the progress of the other party on any front and by any means necessary.
While Grassley, among others, cited Geithner's back taxes for his opposition to the appointment, the pure fact that the vast majority of "no" votes came from the right side of the aisle seems to suggest that concern about the nominee's ethical background was not the only issue on the table. On the other side, if the back taxes truly were indicative of Geithner's morals, then the Democrats' willingness to ignore them also demonstrates the
partisan divide.
These votes deviate significantly from the message both Obama and McCain attempted to convey during the election: that the country must come before partisanship. Reaching across the aisle and working together is the only way we, as a country, will be able to create the brighter future that Democrats and Republicans
alike crave.
While we support each senator's right (and the right of his constituents) to have dissenting opinions, we would like to think that decisions of such magnitude as Monday's will not be subject to and dependent upon party alliances and personal feelings concerning the outcome of the election. As Obama said in his speech on Nov. 5, he is everyone's president — and like it or not, Democrats and Republicans are both going to have to learn to work with him, his administration and
each other.
