So what the heck is wrong with kumbaya?

Randi Kreiss

“Are we gonna be all kumbaya in the new Congress?” said Mr. Nasty, a.k.a. John McCain, the formerly sane senator from Arizona. Then, striking a pose with plenty of attitude, he snarled sarcastically, “I don’t think so.”

That’s right, John, why appeal to moderation and decency when you can stir the political pot? Spit political venom? Gin up the intransigent, hateful side of your supporters?

What, I ask you, do the Republicans want from a beautiful old African folk song? According to my research, the piece emerged in the 1920s and ’30s in the South, a religious spiritual urging unity and peace and seeking help from God. The lyrics are rhythmic and soothing. The message is so uplifting; how did this get to be the new favorite target of partisan politics?

On more than one occasion this past year, Republicans — sorry, but it has been mostly Republicans — have trashed President Obama’s appeals for bipartisan cooperation as kumbaya. When he urged members of Congress to tone down the rancorous attacks and to reach across the aisle, people on the right derided his efforts as more kumbaya.

As if in response to Obama’s calm, steady call for mutual respect and moderation, GOP Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted out during the president’s health care address before both houses last year, calling him a liar. Sarah Palin often asks her rabid audiences, “So how’s that hopey-changey thing workin’ out for ya?”

I would suggest that you’d have to dig quite deep to find a more soul-killing, cynical strategy than making fun of a leader’s appeal to hope and change. How did it get to be cool among any group, even avid Tea Partiers, to appeal to our demons rather than our saints? Why not elevate the conversation by reaching for our better selves rather than ridiculing the quest for fairness and empathy?

After months of agonizing struggle both within Congress and between the president and Congress, and after weeks of deal-making, cajoling, bartering and begging, this inappropriately named lame duck Congress passed a huge bipartisan tax bill, got medical appropriations for 9/11 first responders, secured unemployment benefits for another year, ended “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and passed a nuclear containment treaty with Russia.