Obama's congestion charge

I know this isn't the most exciting thing to write about, but everything else about Obama's visit has been analysed repeatedly. (Huw Edwards was so desperate to make it historic that he kept repeating "This is the first time a US President has addressed both houses of Parliament...in Westminster Hall", like the room it took place in makes any difference to its historic-ness. Next time he will probably be saying "This is the first time a US President has addressed both houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall...on a Thursday afternoon", but I digress)

Before he arrived Boris of London mentioned the US embassy's unpaid congestion charge. Now I'm all for the US paying the congestion charge like anyone else, but apparently they are exempt due to diplomats not paying foreign taxes. Boris argued that the congestion charge is not a tax. The reason the congestion charge is not a tax is because it is a "charge for services". Maybe he should look up what a tax is. All taxes are indirectly charges for services, and I'm pretty sure the money from the congestion charge doesn't go directly into road building.

The next point Mr Johnson made was slightly more absurd. The reason the Pope did not pay the charge but Obama was expected to was: "Unlike the Pope where we didn't charge the Popemobile because we closed the roads, when The Beast rolled through London that Beast paid a congestion charge." If anything is bad for congestion it's closing roads. What Boris essentially said is that had Obama insisted on private roads he would not have had to pay, despite the enormous extra expense of closing off roads, policing and the money lost to the local economy through people being stuck in traffic jams. The Pope should have had to pay an extra charge for closing the roads. And an extra charge for being a doofus.

Obama: compromise is not the way to go

Bless him for trying, but he should really give up.Obama has used his annual State of the Union Address to call for co-operation between parties in a divided congress.[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12283237] If this sounds familiar it's because it is. Clearly Obama decided a long time ago he was going to take the high road no matter what, and has persistently spoken the rhetoric of co-operation.

The problem with this is that he embarked on a programme of legislation that was wholly unsavoury to any self-respecting Republican. To expect an opposition party to work with you you have to offer some kind of compromise. Do I think Obama should have made his policies more Republican in the name of cross-party co-operation? Of course not. Because even if that had been desirable it wouldn't have worked. He should know that Republicans aren't reasonable people. He's trying to compromise with people who think cross-hairs on a map of political opponents is an appropriate way of getting support. They have tried to block every single bill Obama has introduced. They are not good losers and do not understand the language of political co-operation.

Obama's attempts to take the high road are admirable. But I think he might as well try and beat the Republicans at their own game: petty, selfish, aggressive politics; because the right-wing media will accuse him of it whether he does or not. He should have done this long ago, when he had both houses. His recent calls for co-operation seem more than a little futile.

The USA is in a dangerous situation. In 2 years we may have just seen the inauguration of the first female President. Unfortunately this may also be the inauguration of the first Fox News pundit President. The early signs don't look good for Palin, but the likelihood is that we'll have a Republican White House in 2013, and who knows how long it will take for the Democrats to claw their way back in, and what damage the Republicans will do in the mean time? And they can't count on having another Obama moment. That was once-in-a-lifetime. The harsh reality is they're going to have to stoop to the Repulicans' level eventually. They might as well do it before they lose everything.