Let me start off tonight by saying that I really admire President Obama and how he’s trying to stay above the partisan “fray” that is going on all around him. As I’ve stated many times on this site, I’m very frustrated by his continual “reaching out” to Republicans while they’re “stabbing him in the back,” but in a perfect world, he’s doing the right thing. In my mind, stabbing people in the back is what Republicans do, they seem to have no conscience. They’re all about “me” and hate the idea of “we.” The idea of bipartisanship is a good one, I’m just not sure the present circumstances would be the time to “go for it.” Just the same, there is no question in my mind that we have an intelligent, compassionate, hardworking GOOD man in the White House. I was sitting in Church the other day and it dawned on me that President Obama is acting more like a Christian than any of our recent Presidents except Jimmy Carter (I said that for the benefit of all the right wing Christians who hate Obama and supported Bush) I recently had a very interesting conversation with a friend of mine who has been a life long Republican. He said, “I’m re-thinking a lot of what I believe in.” Here’s why he’s re-thinking all these things. He’s unemployed and he has a lot of time to think about what he’s been “for” and he’s been able to see what the “core” or “base” of the Republican party is ACTUALLY “FOR.”

My friend has been without a job for 10 months now and he understands that without the unemployment benefits (which he never supported before, just like most Republicans) he would have already lost his home. Both him and his wife are without medical or dental insurance because that was a casualty of him losing his job. He recently had a bad tooth that needed a root canal, but due to lack of funds he had to go to a “free clinic” and have the tooth pulled. Additionally, this past week his wife needed prescription medicine for a bad migraine and had to settle for extra strength Excedrin instead – if you’ve ever had a bad migraine, you know what a bad choice that is. We talked about his “pro-life” feelings and some of what I find to be curious positions by “pro-lifers.” (just so you know, I’m not “pro abortion” – I believe life begins at conception – I just find some of the other beliefs of “pro-lifers” to be curious at best, as stated previously).

I asked him, “Why should you or anyone else (including an expecting Mom) be denied access to a doctor just because you’re out of a job?” He couldn’t answer that one – in fact, he agreed with me that he (or she) shouldn’t. I pointed out that by denying millions of people access to doctors when illnesses are in their minor stages, emergency rooms get bombarded with advanced diseases which, often times, end up in hospitals with very expensive treatments that are never going to get paid for – except by those with health insurance. I asked, “Wouldn’t it make more sense if everyone paid a percentage of their income for a truly “universal health care system?” and he agreed. I guess being unemployed and without insurance for a year or so at the age of 50 will get your attention. I also asked him, “Why should a pregnant woman without money be denied pre-natal health care?” (I actually witnessed a pregnant woman kicked out of a small hospital because her baby wasn’t due for at least 12 hours based on the frequency of her contractions – she had to hitch a ride to a hospital in the next town – I took her – to find a hospital that would willingly deliver her baby) Or, “What about the care of the mother and the baby after it’s born? Should the Mom have to have insurance so that the Baby can have health care?” (I recently heard Rush Limbaugh make the case for a system similar to what dogs get – if you (the dog owner) can pay for the service then you (the dog) get the treatment – otherwise, forget it) To each of these questions my friend answered something like “yah, I see what you mean.”

And, then I pointed out that at some point he’s going to have a job again, BUT THERE WILL STILL BE OTHERS WHO DON’T! I asked him, “Do you think you’ll still feel this way once you are gainfully employed again and don’t have to worry about all this stuff?” Well, he’s coming around, and I can only hope that he carries his newfound sense of compassion forward once he’s not “one of them.” (meaning an unemployed worker – I worry because he’s a regular “Fox viewer”) I really do think there are many more Republicans who are re-thinking their previous positions, or maybe some of them hadn’t bought into the radical fringe nature of today’s party in the first place – like Colin Powell. It’s just that not any of them, that I’ve seen, have been willing to step forward and call this latest version of “conservatism” what it really is – which is fanatical obstructionism (Limbaugh style). The present day Republican party has no agenda ACCEPT DEFEATING President Barack Obama. I really hope THEY fail (I guess that’s the same thing they’re saying about Obama, but I hope you can see the difference – I didn’t want President Bush to fail, I just wanted him to do things differently – I proposed alternatives, as did many Democrats – and, if you remember, Democrats – to my frustration – went along with a lot of Bush’s policies – it wasn’t TOTAL OBSTRUCTIONISM! – I’m sure, with their mentality, they thought the Dems were stupid for going along with them, at the time)

Let me give you a quick refresher course on what Republicans have done for us over the past 30 years (most of which we would only know about by “digging” for the truth – because the truth is NOT READILY AVAILABLE in the so-called “liberal media”). For starters, they are responsible for about 90% of the HUGE FEDERAL DEFICIT! Even the deficits that will acrue during the Obama years will be largely the resulf of the economic MESS Obama inherited. Now, for one, if Obama’s economic “team” isn’t able to, at a minimum, cut the deficit in half during his term in office, I will be very disappointed – and, I’m actually hoping for much better than cutting it in half, but you have to remember, Obama inherited an annual debt of almost TWO TRILLION DOLLARS/YEAR! (and can you imagine where the deficit would be headed if McCain/Palin had won the election and were still cutting taxes for the rich?) He also inherited two entrenched occupations which are costing American taxpayers something like 15 BILLION DOLLARS PER MONTH (of which, about 3 billion PER MONTH is still going to the private contractor BUDDIES of Bush/Cheney – like Halliburton, Blackwater (Xe), Parsons, Bechtel, KBR, and others as the result of theri no-bid contracts)! Obama inherited a Justice Department that had been undermined and politicized, a military that is stretched to the limit, a banking system nearing collapse, and an unemployment problem that has only been surpassed by the Great Depression in recent American histroy. Additionally, the health care system, despite what Republicans will tell you, is leading us all toward national bankruptcy by providing health insurance companies nearly a TRILLION dollars per year in profits, while our nation is mired WITH the 34TH BEST SYSTEM in the world, even though we spend twice what any other civilized nation spends, per capita, for health care – Republicans have been supporting this system as long as I can remember. (our infant mortality rate is just a notch BELOW – that’s worse than – CUBA’S!). All of this came mostly as a result of the administration of GW Bush, but also GHW Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Richard Nixon. (Plus, Obama has to solve these problems with a Congress which has come to depend on and bow down to “K” Street – the mega lobbyist companies virtually set up by the “Contract for (on) American” Congress – circa 1994 -which came in during Clinton’s years and was led by Newt Gingrich, Tom Delay and the Republican party)

Well, let’s look a little deeper into the problems these Republicans created – and, for the sake of brevity, I’ll just focus on Iraq and Afganistan. These are occupations that OBAMA INHERITED! GW Bush, as we all know now, lied us into the Iraq conflict – WHICH TOOK AMERICA’S “EYES OFF THE BALL” so to speak regarding Afganistan. We are now really paying a price for that because Afganistan/Pakistan has evolved into the extremely difficult problem that George W Bush should have dealt with post 9/11 – and that he virtually abandoned. I’m presently reading “Descent into Chaos” by Ahmed Rashid – a Pakistani journalist who was actually present in many of the strategy meetings prior to the Bush/Cheney response to 9/11 in Afganistan – which gives more insight into the incredible INCOMPETENCE of the Bush administration as GW was creating this HUGE MESS for his successor. Not only was the response to 9/11 in Afganistan incompetent, but as Rashid points out so well in his book, 9/11 SHOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED in the first place! Bush/Cheney had MULTIPLE WARNINGS of an imminent attack – and THEY DID NOTHING to stop them! All their claims of “keeping us safe” are COMPLETE B#@* S@#!* – Getting back to Iraq, supposedly Bush/Cheney et al felt that Saddam Hussein needed to be “toppled” because he was such a cruel man (I’m not denying Hussein to be a cruel man – but, sometime check out some of the other Iraqi leaders). The part that really bothers me about this is that these very “neo-cons” were the ones who armed Hussein during the Reagan years in an attempt to keep the Iraq-Iran war going, and to prevent Iran from defeating Hussein and Iraq. There are published pictures of Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with Hussein after finalizing some weapons deal (which included the nerve gasses he used on “his own people”).

So, we abandon our search for Al Qaeda to take out Saddam Hussein. Here’s what’s really interesting (and disgusting). The United States, also under Reagan (which included a BUNCH of Bush’s cronies) armed both Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the insurgency against the Russian occupation of Afganistan in the eighties (this hastened Russia’s finacial meltdown – hint, hint – endless war in Afganistan). After Russia left Afganistan the US abandoned it and allowed the Taliban to take over. Eventually, the Taliban became entwined with Al Qaeda and supported by the ISI (ie Pakistani Intelligence Agency – similar to our CIA) and Saudi Arabia (our supposed ally). During the nineties Al Qaeda attacked several US targets and the Clinton administration put sanctions on Pakistan for supporting them. And, then, during the first part of Bush’s administration (right after 9/11), the sanctions which had been put on Pakistan were lifted – along with giving them close to a billion dollars in aid – allowing Perves Musharraf, the Pakistani dictator, to increase support to the Taliban who he had been propping up all along with the help of other Arab nations. In fact, after 9/11 Musharraf made an agreement to support the Bush administration, yet continued to fund the Taliban and arm them after the US invaded Afganistan. The really ironic thing here is that it was the US which was supplying the money for Pakistan to do this (you’re right, they were using our money to arm the people we were fighting!). In the years after the US invaded Iraq, both the Taliban and Al Qaeda were “holed up” in Pakistan, being essentially reconstituted to the point that they are VERY DANGEROUS AGAIN – with much of their funding coming from the US (Bush) through Musharraf (they also sell lots of herion to American drug addicts). I’m sure the people over there take the US for being idiots based on the actions of our last President. The reality of the situation that Obama inherited is that Afganistan/Pakistan is a potential “flashpoint” for MAJOR WORLD CONFLICT!

So, now I’m busy trying to get people like my friend to understand that the mess that WE ARE ALL IN (Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and everyone else) was CREATED by the Republicans he’s voted for! You have to do some research to UNDERSTAND THE TOTALITY OF THEIR INCOMPETENCE! Bush/Cheney SCREWED UP EVERYTHING THEY DID! From the wars to Katrina to the economy – EVERYTHING! (that shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who researches George W Bush’s accomplishments prior to taking office – I’m just not sure how he snuck this incompetence over on millions of Americans [including the Supreme Court]- WATCH OUT FOR SARAH PALIN!) Therefore, while President Obama is trying to “fix” the health care system, he also must make an agonizing decision on the future of our involvement in Afganistan along with other MAJOR decisions (like Iraq, the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, unemployment, etc.). It would be nice if Republicans would support him on this as Democrats supported Bush during the original invasion. I’m not sure I’m personally going to agree with what President Obama does myself – BUT I’M REALLY SICK OF THE REPUBLICAN “NO” MACHINE! – a responsible dialog would be nice. I really want our troops to come home myself, but I “get” that our Generals don’t want to abandon another country like they did in Viet Nam. I also “get” that Afganistan is a totally different situation than Iraq. What I hate is that there isn’t even a public dialog on this at all, let alone a front page dialog (where I believe it belongs), on these occupations and OUR TROOPS ARE STILL DYING AND GETTING WOUNDED AND COMING HOME WITH PTSD AND FACING A DISINTERESTED POPULATION! That is why I can’t seem to stop talking about President Obama’s challenges. THEY ARE HUGE! And, obviously (if you’ve read many of my posts) I haven’t agreed with him all the way – BUT HE’S STILL POTENTIALLY A GREAT PRESIDENT – and, we’d all be better off if these Republicans would stop saying NO to everything, and throw in a good positive idea once in a while!