What is it about these Democrats that makes them want to be the minority party to a bunch of thugs? I really don’t get it. I’m watching this present “health care debate” with astonishment. It’s not a debate at all. How can you call it a debate when the people you’re supposedly debating are doing nothing more than OBVIOUSLY playing you for a sucker? And, why on earth can’t these Democrats “get” this? When I voted for Barack Obama I was thinking “finally, we’ll have someone with some intellect in the White House!” The problem, or so it seems, is that President Obama doesn’t understand how to deal with people that despise him. As I’ve been saying for months now, this “reaching out” to Republicans is going to make Obama a one term President. The worst part of that is that the Progressives who voted Obama in will not get the legislation they were expecting (and, believe me, it will be at least another 15 years until we have another chance to implement a people friendly health care system if the present attempt fails), they will end up putting up with another Republican administration (God, help us!), and all the misdeeds that Bush/Cheney put in place will still be “on the books” because of the errant attitude of “looking forward and not backward.”

Now, I fully understand how presumptuous it is of me to be giving President Obama advice (I’ve been doing this for several months now, and he’s surely not going to follow it, even if he somehow reads it), but my never say die attitude forces me to keep trying (if enough people email him this, maybe …… well, who knows). I’ll tell you why I feel like I need to keep doing this. The present debate has been manipulated by Republicans to the point where there’s no way the Democrats can win, short of tearing up everything that’s been talked about and starting over. I guarantee you, at this point, even if there ends up being a so-called “Public Option” on the final bill, it will be far removed from what most people picture in their minds what a “public option” should look like. I would bet that most people figure the “public option” to be something along the lines of a “medicare for all” policy that everyone would have the option to buy into, should they choose – therefore, public OPTION. However, I’m guessing that this so-called option will be so watered down that no one will recognize it. The fact that President Obama himself has said Repbubicans have over 160 amendments in this legislation tells me to “watch out.” What we’ll end up with is legislation which somehow makes the insurance companies EVEN MORE MONEY! Remember, the main agenda of the Republicans is to help Obama fail (and to help insurance companies make more money – they could get the old “two birds with one stone” here). THEY WILL DO NOTHING WHICH MIGHT HELP HIM SUCCEED! That’s just the reality!

So, President Obama, please listen carefully. Your “reaching across the isle” strategy is not only turning off large numbers of your “base” it’s totally playing into the hands of the Republicans who won’t sleep well until you’re out of the White House. They figure that the only job for someone of African descent in the White House is on the kitchen staff or the janitorial service. I know you don’t want to hear this about your former colleagues in the Senate on the Republican side (and, unfortunately, I think there’s some on your own side as well) – but, keep in mind these thugs run everything by Rush before they make it public – and, if you don’t know where Rush is coming from, then what happens is all on you. Those of us on the “progressive” side of things – you know, liberals before Republicans managed to make liberal a dirty word through their propaganda machine which has been picking up steam since the 80’s – are counting on you to put up a better fight to put these criminals “out to pasture.” This is why it was such an egregious error on your part when you decided that a President couldn’t possibly be a war criminal. You might as well have injected those in the Republican party with a shot of adrenaline – Mr. President, if this doesn’t work out, you will be responsible for the resurrection of a bunch of people who your supporters put up with for eight long years (actually, longer than that, because GW was just an extension of the “Reagan Revolution”) and worked diligently to get rid of – supposedly, ONCE AND FOR ALL!

All you had to do was get out of the way of the justice system, which – AS YOU SAID – clearly states that NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW! I would love to hear Rush Limbaugh criticizing your administration for upholding the constitution FOR ONCE IN MY LIFETIME! We’ve put up with Iran/Contra, Watergate, and worse than both of those Bush/Cheney et al! And, EVERYTIME, the Democrats (well, except Watergate – and the truth is that Democrats and Republicans alike stood up against Watergate – but that was before corporations owned our Congress – LOCK, STOCK, AND BARREL!) let the Republicans off the hook. The problem with letting Bush/Cheney off the hook is that THEY COMMITTED WAR CRIMES, THEY WIRETAPPED AMERICAN CITIZENS ILLEGALLY, THEY OUTED A CIA AGENT, THEY REFUSED SUBPOENAS TO CONGRESS, THEY LIED TO CONGRESS AND EVERYONE ELSE – ALL THE TIME – AND THEY UNDERMINED THE VERY JUSTICE DEPARTMENT THAT WE THOUGHT YOU WOULD RESTORE TO RESPECTABILITY! Your “looking forward” has itself undermined everything your supporters stand for. You’ve even gone into court defending some of the indefensible positions of the Bush administration. You might be OK with being a one term President, but there’s a bunch of us out here who don’t want a Republican in 2012, and it’s almost as if you’re alright with that.

I’m going to assume that you really do want to do what’s best for America. So here’s some more advice. STOP THE HEALTH CARE DEBATE RIGHT NOW, AND PREPARE TO START ALL OVER AGAIN – WITHOUT REPUBLICANS! Enlist your supporters for the fight, because the real “war” in America right now is for the soul of this great nation, and if you don’t get over “bi-partisanship” and SOON, your supporters could be right back where they were before you entered the scene. NO ONE I KNOW ANTICIPATED YOUR KEEN DESIRE TO PLEASE REPUBLICANS! Anything you do that has their support will ultimately loose your support with your base. You need to GET THAT THROUGH YOUR (THICK?) HEAD right now. Once you have scrapped the present fiasco – WHICH IS GUARANTEED TO BE A FAILURE, (THE REPUBLICANS WILL VOTE AGAINST IT, AND DESPITE THE FACT THEY WILL BE DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FAILED PARTS OF IT, THEY WILL TURN AROUND AND BLAME YOU FOR EVERYTHING – the classic LOSE LOSE situation for you!) – make a health care plan that you can explain to the people and take it out of the hands of the Congress to write it. THAT WAS A HUGE MISTAKE, admit it and move on. When you come up with the new plan, make sure that the “pure” public option, that is a Medicare like plan that every American has the option to buy into, is part of the proposal – AND MAKE IT NON-NEGOTIABLE! If the health care insurers don’t like it, well TOUGH S*@#!

While you’re working up the new plan, push through a second stimulus bill that is solely aimed at creating jobs – and STOP WORRYING ABOUT REPUBLICAN VOTES! If you respond to the people who voted you in, THEY WILL STICK WITH YOU! It’s this coddling of Republicans that’s making your supporters crazy. If you can’t see the writing on the wall, we can! You watered down the initial “stimulus” package to get three Republican votes. IT’S NOT WORTH IT! We still have almost 10% unemployment – and, I’ll venture a guess that the true figure is more like 15%. Put your focus on JOBS, JOBS, JOBS. Let your surrogates put together a much more easily understood health care proposal – the single payer option would obviously be best, but a “Medicare for all” TRUE OPTION would be acceptable, and let the ground forces help you get it passed. The reason your support is waning is because EVERYONE KNOWS that the present legislation is watered down already – and you seem to be still looking for more compromises! ughhhh! Plus, even your own supporters don’t understand what’s in the legislation. Believe me, despite the fact many still trust you, HARDLY ANYONE – EITHER PARTY – TRUSTS CONGRESS, and that’s who’s writing this bill.

Oh yes, before you do anything after you scrap the present legislation, you’ve got to turn the justice department loose on Bush/Cheney et al. Stop with the enabling of their crimes. Give the Republicans like Limbaugh, O’Reilly, Hannity, DeLay, McConnell, Boehner, Palin, and the others something to complain about. While they’re busy complaining about how waterboarding couldn’t possibly be considered torture, and how even though Abu Ghraib was ordered by Rumsfeld, he shouldn’t be held accountable because if the “grunts” hadn’t taken pictures no one would be the wiser for it, you can be busy creating jobs for America’s middle class (while you’re at it, let’s pass the employee free choice legislation). And, let them make the argument again that Valerie Plame Wilson was just a desk secretary. There are enough TV sound bites to put these guys away for years (let alone what you’d find in normal “discovery” from a legitimate investigation), and there are a lot more people than myself who wonder why we’ve got some Privates and Sargeants who were poorly trained for the job they were given at Abu Ghraib and were doing what they understood had been ordered – and now are in Leavenworth while the people who authorized their actions are writing memoirs and making millions. Mr. President, with all due respect, if you continue to ignore the torturers you become culpible. According to the Geneva Conventions, as I understand it, you don’t have the option of “looking forward and not backward.” We all know that you understand that both Bush and Cheney committed war crimes (authorized waterboarding – admitted on national TV by both men), therefore, if you do nothing about it, you become part of the problem. I’ll end by asking you, can you tell me that you are absolutely NOT continuing the Bush wiretapping abuses? I REALLY hope I’m wrong on that one, because it will come back to “bite” you if you’re still doing it. Mr. President, the only thing being accomplished by your coddling Republicans is the restoration of the Republican party! They are not laughing with you, they’re laughing at you!