Despite the Republicans’ bizarre claim that all the polls are wrong, it is becoming clear that Americans are turned off by Mitt Romney. To paraphrase Joni Mitchell, they’ve looked at him from both sides now, from up and down, and still somehow, it’s just illusions they recall, they really don’t know Mitt at all.
So it’s looking more and more like a second term for Barack Obama.
But it’s much too soon to start celebrating. Strange things happen in this world. Especially in politics. Dewey did not beat Truman.
And even if Americans have the good sense to give President Obama four more years to undo the damage caused by George W. Bush and a Republican Congress, it would be a hollow victory if the House remains in the hands of those Tea Party crazies. If people like Michele Bachmann, Allen West, Steve King and Joe Walsh (left to right in photo above) keep their seats, Congress will continue to sabotage the president’s best efforts.
These are not just Tea Party fanatics; they’re out-and-out looneys.
West, for example maintains that the entire Progressive caucus in the House is made up of Communists. And Bachmann, along with Reps. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Thomas Rooney (R-Fla.) and Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.), recently sent letters to five federal agencies demanding investigations into infiltration by the Muslim Brotherhood.
With nut cases like these calling the shots in the House, President Obama has found it impossible to get common-sense legislation enacted.
And even in the Senate which has a Democratic majority, senseless obstructionism reigns.
Republicans have become the party of no – with a vengeance. In a stunning blow to common decency, GOP Senators blocked a bi-partisan bill to put veterans to work.
The $1 billion required to fund the program was offset by various budget cuts, but Senate Republicans shot it down anyway.
Senators sabotaging the bill included Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Orrin Hatch of Utah. You would think their betrayal of the troops would disqualify them from reelection, but apparently it doesn’t work that way. They and their ilk could be around for a while, and you can bet they aren’t going to get any more humane.
To rescue America from the quagmire in which Congress has submerged the country, voters will have to do more than reelect Barack Obama. They will have to give him a Congress he can work with.
And that means a thorough housecleaning in Washington.
