How Congress is giving new life (and scope) to 'brinkmanship'
Brinkmanship. The now-standard term for any high-stakes game of political chicken, particularly over spending matters.
鈥淏rinkmanship鈥� once was used in the national security realm during the cold war, to describe moving to the very edge of war in order to force a conciliatory move. Democrat Adlai Stevenson, who ran for president in 1952 and 1956, blasted Republican Secretary of State John Foster Dulles for 鈥渂oasting of his brinkmanship 鈥� the art of bringing us to the edge of the abyss.鈥� As University of California-Berkeley linguist Geoffrey Nunberg , it has endured far longer than 鈥渕utual assured destruction鈥� and other words from that era.
鈥淭he crises of the Cold War kept taking the world to the brink of the same terrifying catastrophe,鈥� Nunberg said in a New York Times language column. 鈥淣ow there seem to be lots of littler brinks and local abysses.鈥�
At the moment, it鈥檚 being used to connote the dispute between congressional Republicans and the White House over a spending bill for the Homeland Security Department that Republicans are trying to use to halt President Obama鈥檚 efforts to protect millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation. The department鈥檚 funding is set to run out next Friday, but Senate Democrats have to allow the House-passed version of the bill to come up, raising the prospect of a partial government shutdown.
鈥淭he situation is frustrating some senior GOP lawmakers,鈥� Politico 鈥渂ecause it鈥檚 consuming valuable legislative time and because the new GOP-controlled Congress was hoping to put brinkmanship and deadline-driven crises behind it.鈥�
The squabble has grown so divisive 鈥� with the as well as Congress involved, and House Republicans Senate Republicans -- that liberal Washington Post blogger Greg Sargent concluded last week that
It may seem like it was an eternity now, but when Obama embarked on his second term just over two years ago, he of fiscal-related dealings that would include 鈥渁 little bit less drama, a little bit less brinkmanship, [and] not scare the heck out of folks quite so much.鈥� That, of course, turned out to be wishful thinking, given the government shutdown that occurred eight months later.
Perhaps as a result, 鈥渂rinkmanship鈥� also is becoming something of a synonym for overall governmental conflict-induced dysfunction. Rep. Janice Hahn (D) of California used it in that context this week when she that she would run for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in 2016: 鈥淲ith so much brinkmanship in Washington, I am confident that I can get more done for our region back here at home, serving in local government.鈥�
By the way, the word used is both 鈥渂rinkmanship鈥� and 鈥渂rinksmanship.鈥� The version without the 鈥渟鈥� is , but both are considered acceptable.
Chuck McCutcheon and David Mark write their "Speaking Politics" blog exclusively for Decoder Voices.聽
