EXTRA: What is more ridiculous? GOP hard-line on Obama, or Quinn mandate?

It seems I’m not the only person who wonders if the Republican rhetoric about taking a hard line on issues and being uncompromising will ultimately do them in politically.

The Gallup Organization came out Wednesday with a new study that finds more people in our society (or at least more of the people who were polled) prefer the thought of “compromise” rather than “sticking to beliefs.”

FORTY-SEVEN PERCENT OF people want our political leaders to work together to reach a consensus, while 27 percent don’t mind a hard line from their elected officials. And yes, there is a partisan split. People who identified as Republican were more likely (41 percent to 32 percent) to prefer the hard line, while those who identify as Democrat were more likely (59 percent to 18 percent) to think in terms of working together.

Now I’m sure some conservative ideologues are going to try to spin this into a claim that they’re standing up for what they believe is proper.

But what caught my attention was another part of the survey, one that says 64 percent of people think President Barack Obama will make a sincere effort to work with the new Republican majority that will run the House of Representatives. In fact, anybody who objectively looks at Obama’s political background (meaning you realize how ridiculous all that birther nonsense is) in the Senate and the Illinois Legislature would realize he has always valued the concept of bipartisan work.

By comparison, only 43 percent of people think the Republicans will even try to cooperate with Obama. And only 17 percent of people think there is any truth to the statement of, “Republicans in Congress willing (to compromise), President Obama not willing.”

ADMITTEDLY, IT IS still early in the process – and this is one lone poll. But some of these ideologues need to give serious thought to the very real concept that perhaps we like Obama more than we like them.

Which means their belief that we’re automatically going to blame Obama for the failure of anything to be accomplished during the next two years may be an even more ridiculous thought than all that rhetoric Gov. Pat Quinn has been spewing in recent days about having a “mandate” to govern Illinois.

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