Oh my gosh, I had a wonderful weekend away, I return to work, and look at a couple news broadcasts – reality strikes; It’s back to dealing with Republicans. I’ve been saying for months on this site (and years altogether) that as long as the present group of Republicans control their party, negotiating with them makes no sense. I think it is wonderful that President Obama wants to unite everyone – I believe he sees himself as the progressive “Ronald Reagan” from the great communicator point of view. However, just as Reagan was a disaster for this nation – his initiatives actually either put in motion or accelerated the philosophies that have gotten us to this horrible spot we’re in economically – and believe me, if you don’t get it, we are in a crisis with a capital C! – the present version of Republicans are continuing the same old tired and failed rhetoric. Our economy is in a shambles and it’s the result of 30+ years of what the first George Bush called “voodoo economics.” It didn’t make sense when Reagan drove deficits to record levels and it made even less sense during a time of two wars during the previous administration of GW Bush as he instituted massive tax cuts during wartime, for those who didn’t need them, and told us to “shop” as our national sacrifice.

Now that they are the minority party, instead of trying to inject some actual conservative thinking into the budget debate – and I don’t mean of the voodoo economics nature – Republicans are going to be the antagonists and, at the very least, put the dream of a united country on hold. This just aint going to happen while Mitch McConnell, John Boenher (Boner), and the holdovers from the Bush years are in control of their party. I even saw John McCain on TV tonight trying to make it look like he had any idea what would be good for our economy. Of course, all you can get from any of them is more tax cuts. If we listened to them we would soon have a tax base comparable to the Federal Reserve rate which, if you’ve been paying attention, is at or near ZERO! These Republicans haven’t had a useful positive idea to share for years. They are so bought and sold by the multi-national corporations that despite the fact the meltdown of the economy is accelerating each day, they keep spewing the same old worn out worthless garbage.

Hopefully, people en masse will discontinue even listening to these greedy, self serving, hypocrites. People like Boehner, McConnell, McCain, Limbaugh, Hannity, Dobson, and I could go on, need to just shut up and let President Obama try to get us out of the worst fix since the Great Depression, and conceivably – if they don’t shut up – worse than that. WE ARE FAR FROM SEEING THE PEAK OF THIS PROBLEM! (or the bottom as the greed mongers of Wall Street call this magical spot where things turn around) For some reason these guys seem to think that as long as they still have jobs and flush bank accounts there is no problem. The two million or so who have lost their jobs in the last 12 months probably deserved it – and of course, the way to create new jobs and get them back to work would be massive tax cuts, “because the American people know better how to spend their money than the government.” This is so absurd in the face of what has transpired over the past year (eight years really – many of us saw this coming almost from the day Bush frittered away the surplus he inherited) that you’d think even these knuckleheads would be smart enough to stop with their vermin.

And to President Obama: stop listening to these thugs. They’re going to push you as far as they can – they really are a lot like the sixth graders I teach. Put a stop to this now! I’m no fan of Bill Clinton, but I will say this, he passed his initial budget with only Al Gore’s (the Vice President who is the President of the Senate) vote being the difference. Republicans whined for eight years that Clinton had raised taxes – AND THE RESULT WAS UNPARALLELED GROWTH IN THE ECONOMY AND A BALANCED BUDGET THAT WAS IN SURPLUS WHEN CLINTON LEFT OFFICE. Who cares if McConnell and Boenher spend their time whining for the next eight years – I guarantee you they’ll be whining whether you cut them out of the negotiations or not. YOU DON’T NEED REPUBLICANS TO PUT THE RIGHT POLICY INTO PLACE! And I’d say the first place to start is to eliminate the $300 Billion of tax cuts in the present proposal – as a response to their obsructionism, and because it’s the right thing to do – and spend the money on projects that not only create jobs but create infrastructure that will be around when my granddaughter is an adult.

Invest the money in R&D for alternative energy. Provide funds for the American auto industry to retool into an industry that produces the best fuel efficient cars in the world – and saves the United Auto Workers as the antithetical statement to Reagan’s initiative to destroy America’s Unions, beginning with the Air Traffic Controllers. Invest in Schools, roads, bridges, and creative ideas from citizens with the courage to find new ways to solve old problems. These republicans are not only going to fight your economic stimulus package to the bitter end, they’re going to fight everything you do. Your success means their demise – and believe me when I say this, they would rather save themselves than save the country. That is why they couldn’t get out of Iraq. It would have meant admitting to a huge mistake. So they’re going to try to manipulate the media in a way that will allow them to place the blame on everything that happens this year on YOU! And there’s going to be a lot of stuff to place blame for and you know THEY WON’T LOOK IN A MIRROR WHEN FIGURING OUT WHO CAUSED ALL THESE PROBLEMS.

Additionally, this is why the reports are surfacing that they are blocking the confirmation of Eric Holder for Attorney General without some kind of assurance from him that he won’t prosecute Bush and company. As absurd as that sounds, I believe it’s probably true. Even if they can’t pull something that ridiculous off, they will try, because all Republicans fully understand the gravity of the potential investigations. And in the same light as why you can’t negotiate with these people, you MUST allow Holder to do exactly what they are afraid of – investigate the previous administration, and prosecute any wrongdoing that is uncovered which violates our laws and our constitution. President Obama – I know you understand how serious this problem is, and I admire that you have the patriotic spirit to take this on and try to fix something that is possibly irretrievably broken. I love this country and I’m pulling for you with all my heart – but part of what has made the problem so grave is a Democratic Congress that is – I hate to use this word, but I can’t think of another one which is adequate to the grave circumstances – cowardly! The Republicans are so used to pushing the Democrats around they think they can just continue doing it no matter the realities we’re all facing.

Stopping their behavior, empowering the courage of those in your party, and if we are to have any chance of pulling ourselves out of this quagmire without even more severe damage will require something we haven’t seen for decades in this country – REAL LEADERSHIP! You’ve given me the hope that you understand the “buck stops here” theory of leading, and I get the sense that you do have enough courage to make the hard choices which lie ahead – but don’t cow down for even an instant to these Republicans. I heard you say the other day “I won” apparently in response to some disagreement with Republicans invited to infuse ideas at the “table.” I think you should rephrase that to “We won!” and let the Republicans know that you are fully prepared to move on without them and you and the Democrats have the support of a strong percentage of the nation. Your stimulus package includes $300 Billion in tax cuts for a nation that is bankrupt and already not paying its bills – if that doesn’t make them happy, believe me nothing will. Mr. Obama, you don’t need Republican help to get our economy back on track. In fact, you might be better off without it.