With our nation sliding ever closer to the fiscal cliff,
President Obama and Speaker Boehner are engaged in a dangerous
kabuki dance of political brinksmanship once again, with economic
chaos waiting in the wings. They seem to have reached an impasse
that might lead to a Thelma and Louise launch off the cliff for all
of us.
Then again, it all sounds so very familiar: the blame game and
finger pointing and accusations of failures to “reach out” for a
middle ground, to bargain in good faith. As Yogi would say, it’s
like déjà vu all over again. Yet another replay round of
Groundhog Day from the debt ceiling brinksmanship of just
last summer.
But, hope springs eternal that, after all the posturing and
dueling press conferences and campaign-style staged visits with
“ordinary citizens,” a sensible deal will be struck at the eleventh
hour.
Meanwhile, hockey players have been locked out by the owners
since September 15, resulting in the cancellation through December
31 of 527 games or 43% of the season. With the entire 2012-13
season in jeopardy, even expert mediators have failed to bring the
parties together, resulting in talk of antitrust lawsuits and
unfair labor practice refusal to bargain charges. The prolonged
battle may escalate to the courts and the labor board as
negotiations founder.
With both sets of talks stuck in neutral and dire outcomes
awaiting a failure to reach an agreement, President Obama had the
temerity to lecture the NHL and NHL players’ union on their failure
to reach an agreement. (That dressing down, coming from a devout
pickup basketball player and huge NBA fan, probably was all the
more galling to hockey league owners, players, and fans alike.)
In a recent interview with a Minneapolis television station,
Obama scolded, “My message to owners and players is, ‘You guys make
a lot of money on the backs of fans, so do right by your fans. You
can figure out how to spread out a bunch of revenue that you’re
bringing in, but do right by the people who support you.’” Of
course, he’s absolutely right, the league and players should have
resolved their contract dispute by now. But, the president has no
standing to be critical of the lack of progress in anyone else’s
negotiations when his own linger in such disgraceful disarray.
If I were an NHL owner or player, or involved in any way in
those negotiations, I would have responded in words (with
expletives deleted) to the effect of, “Butt out, Mr. President. Why
don’t you take care of your own shameful bargaining stalemate and
get your own damn deal done. You and Mr. Boehner and the rest of
you lawmakers make a lot of money on the backs of taxpayers.
Surely, you can figure out how to do right by the citizens who
support the entire operation of government with their tax dollars.
So, enough with your self-righteous pontificating. Just mind your
own negotiations and quit telling us how to do our jobs!”
But, the president’s hypocrisy continued as the interview
wrapped up: “And, I shouldn’t be involved in a dispute between
really wealthy players and even wealthier owners. They should be
able to settle this themselves. And, remember who it is that’s
putting all that money in their pockets.” Well, Mr. President, I
hope you listened carefully to what you were saying because you are
exactly right — you shouldn’t be involved at all in the NHL
impasse, you ought to be focused entirely on your own miserable
failure to strike a deal and keep our nation away from the fiscal
cliff disaster.
On second thought, maybe the NHL negotiators should turn the
tables on the president and make some suggestions to him on how to
break through the fiscal cliff impasse. I’m sure those suggestions
would be about as welcome and useful as the president’s critique of
professional hockey from his “bully pulpit.”
An NHL referee should blow his whistle on this nonsense and send
the president to the penalty box for 2 minutes for
interference.
