On the Contrary

I am sitting here on my front porch overlooking the vineyard listening to some smooth jazz on satellite radio and wondering if the nation has lost all direction as I simmer in my own juices of discontent.  I have said for sometime that health care reform was dead since the single payer option has never been on the table, and a public option also now appears to be off the table.  What the hell are Obama and the Democrats thinking about?  Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann, and Ed Shultz have chronicled this lunacy that the Democrats have created.  Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

Last night on Keith Olbermann, Howard Dean put his finger right on it when he said, the Democrats are making the big mistake they did when the Republicans were in power, losing their nerve and trying to be more like them.   Remember that this pack of gutless wonders (except for a very few) voted for the Iraq war, the War Powers Act, and I could go on ad nausea.  They finally get elected by a landslide to carry out a progressive agenda and what do they do?  Well let’s just start with the Stimulus Bill.  Trying to get Republican support they watered it down and made it much less effective and then they got no Republican votes.  Lean anything boys and girls?  The climate bill has not even got close to the Senate and we are seeing the same effect.

The health care bill may have been a lost cause from the start because once again the Democrats cannot stand up for what they believe.  They invited forty something speakers to talk about the direction of the health care bill and not one was a supporter of a public option or a single payer system.  Apparently it was rigged from the start.  The panel that is going to tell us what we get in the Senate is loaded with half of the committee Republicans who are controlling the agenda.  Did they win the last election?  I guarantee you after all the compromises are made, not one of them will vote for it.  WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE THINKING?

Maybe my wife is right: Political party is not a discriminator, you all are scum.   What I can’t get over is that we came out and supported a clear platform and we won.  Then the Democrats caved on every issue.  President Obama is the biggest disappointment of all.  I am sorry Mr. President, but you came out and said that without a public option you would veto the health care bill.  Now you are wavering on it.  Et tu Brute?

You want to know where your support is Mr. President?  Where is that grass roots organization you built?  They are like me, seething with anger at your betrayal.  Oh, I know, you are just being practical.  You will “being practical” kill the Democratic Party, your support, and any hope for change.  This isn’t just some progressive rant.  This is a total failure by you to keep your promises.  We don’t need to win every battle, but we want every battle to be fought.  So far as I can tell on the big issues that will change the direction of this country, you have compromised away change.  Oh yeah, I can hear the equivocating by Gibbs now.  We are not morons.  We know when we are being patronized.  Where it counts, you have failed to stand up and fight when it was important to fight and that is all we asked.  Maybe you need someone on your staff who isn’t in the Washington bubble that can look you in the eye and say, “You are f*#king up Mr. President.”  Compromise and bipartisanship are not an end in itself.  Policies that work are what is important.

Here is what we know Mr. President.  The Republicans aren’t just wrong, they are dead wrong.  Worse, so-called responsible leaders of the present day Republican Party are sowing the seeds of violence and civil insurrection.  They are bringing out the fruitcakes who think it is okay to wear a semi-automatic rifle on their shoulder to your rallies.  They think it is the democratic process when you stop free speech by intimidation.  We are such a screwed up country that we think citizens should have that right.  The Republican Party is an extremist party that will destroy the greatness of this nation if you don’t finally stand on your two feet and fight back.

We elected you to bring about change and if you think that compromising with failure is change, then we elected the wrong guy.  Stop being diplomatic and call a liar a liar.  When you see despicable behavior identify it and challenge it.  Stand up for what you promised us as a candidate.  Attack back for God’s sake.  Quit giving their arguments credence when they have none in some wasted effort to be gracious.  Otherwise I will be one of many that just may not vote next time.  Why bother?  Yes I am very, very angry right now.  You are aiding and abetting the Republicans and their failed philosophy that is responsible for putting this nation on its knees.  The country’s very soul is at stake and you are letting it be stolen by a failed ideology.  Maybe we should have elected Hillary.  At least she has some fight in her.

Next blog I will try to be more rational, but right now my feeling of betrayal is just too overbearing.  I don’t mind losing a good fight, but we have capitulated from the beginning.  It is time to quit turning the other cheek Mr. President.