Tonight President Obama gave a rousing address to a joint session of Congress and I have to admit it was masterfully done.  And I,  for one, am hoping totally that Obama succeeds and Rush Limbaugh is proven to be the traitor that he seems to me when he says, among other absurdities, that he hopes Obama fails.  I think even some of the die hard Republicans are beginning to understand the impossible circumstances that existed when George W Bush left the White House.  Looking at Obama’s first month in office and how much has been done gives a good glimpse at the damage this nation incurred while Bush was AWOL during his last year in office.  In fact, the last few months were as if there was no one in charge of our government – and we’re seeing the importance of the “adults being in charge” as the economic crisis worstens.  That being said, I have to emphasize that no one will be able to accuse me of blindly following President Obama and refusing to criticize him when I deem it necessary – which is totally different from virtually all Republicans marching in lock-step behind Bush during his two terms at the helm.

A few days ago I wrote a piece laying out what I called my “Red Flags” from the first month in Obama’s Presidency.  Well, tonight, neatly “snuck” into the excitement of his stirring speech was the news that my “Red Flag #2” is coming to fruition.  Just as I had surmised, President Obama is about to renege on his pledge to remove all American troops from Iraq in 16 months.  Not only is he going to extend the time-frame he’s going to “muddy” the waters by leaving, by some accounts, 50,000 troops in Iraq after the new “deadline” of 19 months for “getting out.”  Now, I don’t know how you would see this (again, I’m assuming I might be talking to someone other than myself – because it should be obvious how I see it) but, to me, leaving 50,000 troops isn’t getting out!  So he’s about to stretch the timeframe 3 months – which probably wouldn’t meet with too much angst – but I guarantee you the 50,000 troops staying is going to be a problem for Obama.  It appears to me that he’s still trying harder to please Republicans than necessary (personally, I don’t think he needs to please them at all) and he’s taking his base support for granted.  The part that really bothers me is that I believe there’s more to come.  I won’t even get into my thoughts about loading up troops in Afganistan with no real mission there, but I’m really concerned about the warrantless wiretapping that is continuing as I write this piece.  I’m not prepared to “turn” on Obama, but I can tell you that he doesn’t get a free pass with me.  And I not only don’t like the news from tonight, I don’t like the way they’re going about “leaking” it – I’m sure in a brazen attempt to mitigate the political damage – kind of mixing the bad news in with another rousing speech.  I’m not buying it.

This gets back to another of my problems with Obama.  If he doesn’t encourage prosecutions of the Bush lawbreaking the Republican party will just go along its merry obstructionist way, and we will end up with business as usual in Washington despite all the inspirational prose.  I watched this speech and for the first 2/3 of the speech all the applause was coming from the Democratic side of the isle.  It was very strange, almost embarrassing, watching the Democrats stand and applaud parts of the speech while the entire Republican side just sat there, almost like they were sitting on their hands.  Finally, toward the end of the speech, the Republicans joined in some of the “celebration.”  I think there must have been some monitors which allowed them to see what they looked like to us in the TV audience as they glumly sat, expressionless, while the Democrats rose to approve of one part of the speech after another.  THEY REALLY LOOKED THE PART OF THE “PARTY OF NO!”

As I watched this spectacle tonight the one thing that became clear to me was that it’s time for the Republican party to be the “third” party in our system.  We need another party to challenge the Democrats.  President Obama probably feels somewhat comfortable in making decisions that he must know will rankle people like myself who voted for him with the idea that we would be TOTALLY out of Iraq in 16 months OR LESS.  It’s like, “What are you going to do about it – vote for them?”  I mean, as I looked at Mitch McConnell sitting there I couldn’t help but think how could he rise to the leadership position of any party in this country?  And John McCain – I’ll say it again – can you imagine McCain giving that address with Sarah Palin sitting in Biden’s place?  The people on Wall Street would really be ready to “throw in the towel.”  These Republicans are like a bad dream that keeps coming back over and over again.

Take for example the guy on CNBC (Rick Santelli) who gave the incredibly selfish rant the other day about the “losers” – meaning the homeowners who stand to benefit from $75 Billion of the TARP money designed to actually stem the tide of the foreclosure crisis (he, of course, had nothing to say about the “losers” on Wall Street who have already burned over $500 Billion – This including AIG – and are back for more) – and how the government spending his tax dollars to help these homeowners “pay their mortgages” was “Un-American.”  Well, from a Republican standpoint, unless you’re a corporation, it probably is – which begs the point that the plan isn’t to pay anyone’s mortgage – it’s designed to restructure mortgages so deserving families that are victims of this crisis can stay in their homes.   To fight the criticism of his rant he goes to, where else, but the king of the Republican obstructionists – G. Gordon Liddy.  Now Liddy has a syndicated radio show that proves that these guys just keep coming back – I’m sure Liddy is a folk hero among Republicans because of his prime role in the Watergate scandal which was really the beginning of the Republican’s present day practice of using corrupt, dirty tricks  to get power by any means possible (this was the “spawning” of Lee Atwater which led to Karl Rove).  Now, it’s not that I TOTALLY disagree with Santelli on this seemingly endless “bailout” by our government – although I would clearly favor any money going to homeowners instead of the banks – it’s that when the White House criticized Santelli – he goes right to Liddy – the lowest common denominator in the Republican party.  The fact the guy’s on the air is, on the one hand, a testament to free speech, and, on the other hand, an indication of where Republicans are at.  My point here is that we need someone else besides these clowns as the opposition to the Democrats.  Should Obama continue to act like Bush on the war, on wiretapping, and on prosecuting government lawbreakers – I just can’t picture myself voting for any of these Republicans.

 I’ve been eligible to vote for 40 years (the voting age was 21 for me) and I’ve never missed an election.  And I suppose I won’t miss any in the immediate future as long as I retain my faculties.  But I can’t see myself voting for President Obama again should he continue on this path.  Tonight he talked about the importance of the “long term” as the impending legislation is put together.  I couldn’t agree more.  And, while the economy is of vital importance right now, and I agree that he will be judged (in the short term) for how he deals with the economy, continuing this illegal occupation indefinitely (and believe me, in my mind as long as we have any troops in Iraq the occupation is still on), how he deals with the wiretapping issue, and how he deals with the Bush administration criminals will have more of a “long term” effect on the future of this great nation.  Osama bin Laden will rejoice at the news that we are staying in Iraq (and, by the way, it will be interesting to see how many of the “contractors” remain – these are the ones who are really “bleeding” the American taxpayers – we’ll see if Obama’s “honesty” addresses the contractors or if he continues the Bush policy of pretending they aren’t there), plus if our government continues its policy of “data mining” our phone calls and emails – the terrorists have won another major victory, and if the Bush people go un-punished for the tremendous “wrongs” they inflicted on all of us – they will be back and the “long term” that President Obama so eloquently talked about tonight will look grim – no matter what happens to the economy.

 I really want my granddaughter and future grandson (and by extension my children) to be able to talk on the phone or express themselves in emails without fear that “Big Brother” is listening.  THIS IS HUGE!  Also, I don’t want my children and grandchildren spending the rest of their lives apologizing for their grandfather’s generation who violated the very principles of their great grandparents who, after World War II set up the Geneva Conventions to ensure that no civilized nation would ever resort to torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners during a time of war.  I am confident that, should we fail to prosecute our own in this matter (torture), my son – who recently joined the US Marines – is much more likely to be tortured should he ever (God forbid) be captured in the field of battle.  This is a legacy that I believe a majority of Americans don’t want on our “ledger.”  Then Senator Obama sent me a letter (all right, it was one of his underlings) after the FISA vote (during the campaign) assuring me he would “correct” the problem of illegal warrantless wiretapping soon after assuming office, should he be elected – I’m still waiting – and the “scuttlebut” has not been favorable.  I also heard him on more than one occasion say that if laws have been broken, people should be held accountable – and he also said “No one is above the law.”  So, this is my plea tonight;  President Obama, don’t renege on your promises on the war in Iraq, warrantless wiretapping, and torture!