When America wins, all of us should cheer

By Brian Greenspun (contact)

Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023 | 2 a.m.

Why can’t America be more like the Super Bowl?

Today, millions, tens of millions and maybe hundreds of millions of people in this country and around the world will watch two American teams meet on the football field to battle for the privilege of being called Super Bowl champions.

There will be yelling, cheering, some crying, some praying and some momentary heartbreak. But, in the end, the winners and the losers will shake hands, wish each other well, congratulate the winners, console the losers and live to fight another day.

After all, it is just a game. But it is a game that imitates the way life used to be, should be and may be again in the United States of America.

It should not be lost on anyone as they prepare for the Big Game today, that earlier in the week the president of the United States delivered his State of the Union address to the Congress.

There were barely tens of millions of Americans who watched or listened to President Joe Biden’s report to the people about our country, its economic and cultural health, and its standing in the world.

And, yes, there was cheering and, I suspect, some praying — for what I am not exactly sure given the fact that many of the people there were playing a sport that is not wholly familiar or holy to most Americans.

We can all recognize and appreciate a good football game. Even when we don’t understand all that is happening on and off the field.

What the State of the Union has become over the past few years is not something many of us recognize or should want to acknowledge as representative of this great country of ours.

There was a time when people on both sides of the political aisle in Congress came together for the good of the country, applauded for what was good for the country and stood up to support what represented all that is good about our country.

That is not what I saw this past week when President Biden reported on the state of our union. And, admittedly, it is hard for me — in my most cynical, experienced and politically biased moments — to accept the new reality that is the leadership of the Republican Party.

So, just for fun during the president’s speech, I kept an eye on the recently and not-so-easily elected speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, who had a seat of honor Tuesday night right next to Vice President Kamala Harris and directly behind President Biden.

I knew that his reaction to Biden’s speech would dictate the reaction of the House Republicans in the chamber. Sadly, I was right — except for a few of the fringe elements who just can’t help themselves when it comes to being obnoxious, uncouth and unworthy of the high positions for which they, somehow, were elected.

Early on in his speech, Biden reflected on the millions of jobs that have been created since he moved into the White House. And how for too long America was exporting our jobs and importing our goods, which was a formula for more pain than was necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Then came the layup. The president told America that from now on we would be exporting products and creating American jobs at home.

There were loud cheers and a standing ovation. The speaker of the House of Representatives sat on his hands. Well, there was some polite and reluctant clapping — but just a little. And his GOP minions followed suit.

Then came another layup. Biden told America that in his first two years there were 10 million Americans who applied to start new businesses. The political party of business, the protector of the small-businessman and the defender of capitalism to its core — the GOP — sat on its hands. Again.

You mean small business is no longer championed by the Republicans? That’s the way it looked to me while looking at the speaker. He wouldn’t get off his butt while Americans around the country stood proud. He ceded that hallowed Republican ground to the Democrats on national TV!

Ohio and the GOP are synonymous with one another. It is a red state to its core. Maybe not for much longer, though.

When McCarthy and his colleagues heard Biden describe the jobs that will be created soon in Ohio thanks to the president’s chip-making and semiconductor legislation — that’s the one that says the United States will no longer be dependent upon a foreign nation or, worse, an adversary for vital chip-making technology — that was the time for Kevin to jump to his feet so his GOP colleagues would jump even higher.

But that didn’t happen. With $110,000-plus salaries filling that Ohio plant, you would think the GOP would take a share of the credit for protecting America and creating high-paying jobs.

That’s what you would think and you would be wrong. Instead, the Republicans sat in their seats. A little polite applause could barely be heard from the sanity caucus of the GOP.

There were many other instances that night for which Republicans could have stood and been counted among Americans who were proud of the country America is becoming again. They passed on those too.

And even when the president looked hatred and racism squarely in the eye and told his countrymen that there is no safe harbor for hate and extremism in America — it was a no-brainer for anyone with the brains to understand the grave danger to democracy that is posed by hate groups on a daily basis — guess who didn’t stand up against hate. Guess who sat on his hands yet again.

The point is that we have witnessed in our country, after a long drought during which enmity and ignorance ruled the day, what we can do when we come together and compromise for the good of the country.

Everyone should applaud that and demand so much more. Even Kevin McCarthy and his band of not-so-merry men and a couple of whacky women.

The Super Bowl champions can only win when the entire team comes together as one. The same is true for America.

Why is it that this new kind of Republican Party can’t see that simple truth? Why can’t they stand up for American greatness? Why can’t they cheer for a winner?

Brian Greenspun is editor, publisher and owner of the Sun