UK: Rewarding bad behaviour

The Guardian

A Mitt Romney win would merely reward Republicans for bad behaviour

Barack Obama's presidency may have been too timid, but let's not forget who's been responsible for the US's political gridlock

• Gary Younge

And so it was that by the end of last week you got a sense of what an Obama presidency might have been, and might be again, were it not for the wilful obstruction of an opposition whose primary stated aim was to deny him a second term: too timid for what is necessary but nonetheless the best that is possible within the narrow confines of American electoralism. Of course, he still has to win on Tuesday, which is by no means certain. But the dying days of the campaign put to rest one of the cases against him that has gained most traction among waverers.

The arguments of the Des Moines Register and the Orlando Sentinel are true as far as they go. But they don't go very far unless they locate the source of the gridlock and hold to account those responsible for it. In the absence of that, handing the presidency to Romney becomes little more than a reward for bad behaviour.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/04/mitt-romney-republicans-bad-behaviour