So the Republicans are voting against every measure put forward by President Obama from stemming the downward spiral of the economy to delaying the switch to HD television, what a shock!
It’s not as if we didn’t see this coming, they are so discombobulated at the moment that they even have McCain warning the President to back off Rush Limbaugh and oh yes electing a new Republican Chairman in the form of a black man they think will help them redefine and launch their desperately needed outreach to the people they have treated like (with apologies to Barbara Striesand) “the pimple on the nose of life’s complexion” for more years than we care to remember. Good luck on that, wonder if Rush will have him on his show.
Here’s what I think after standing in the cold on the National Mall in the middle of an energized, joyful sea of faces, if I were a Republican I think I would find ways to work with the President, to do otherwise will seem petty and trifling. Our President is a very cool under pressure individual who is always surveying the landscape, who has extended the hand of cooperation if not friendship, not out of weakness, but out of the desire to give them an opportunity to say we found these solutions together.
At the end of the day, however, these elected officials have to remember they did not vote for President Obama the American people did and as such it is incumbent on him to work for the ones who put him there and not the ones who are trying to make a name for themselves by opposing him.
It is evident from listening that some of the objections to the stimulus plan have not been thought out and is just plain desperate. What is the use of touting tax cuts over spending when the unemployment numbers are astronomical. What will tax cuts do if you are unemployed and not paying taxes? So who exactly are the Republicans proposing these tax cuts for, more for the richest Americans no doubt.
And while we are on the subject, might I just ask where were these super geniuses when Bush was driving the economy off a cliff. After all they were the majority party, why didn’t anyone speak up then. The country has been in a recession since 2007 why are they just finding their voices now to oppose the President.
I will tell you why, because the Republicans have always been known more for pomp and pretension, self righteousness and keeping themselves sanitized from the common people, rather than meeting people in the very real world where real men and women struggle daily with real issues and have to make real and very painful choices in order to make ends meet. So while they puff themselves up with their petty outrage and look for things to nitpick and argue about whether the President has disrespected the Oval Office because he doesn’t wear a jacket, they miss the point that he is about the business of the people, something that should be near and dear to their hearts as duly elected officials. Personally I couldn’t care less if the President showed up for work in a kilt as long as he does what he promised to do.
