Thursday, March 5, 2009

The Anti-Obamas

After the terrible and cowardly acts of 9-11 the country gathered behind the President and partisanship disappeared. Well it didn’t disappear as much as sublimate itself.

The main problem as it turned out was that the President and his close group of friends and co-conspirators ended up using that terrible disaster as a springboard for personal financial security. They turned around the country’s determination and desire for justice into the almost totalitarian leadership of the Bush Cheney team. And like naïve sheep we went along because no Presidential administration had ever been so self serving before and we as a nation could not believe this one would break that string or the law for that matter.

We were wrong.

The end result of those seven years is the economic meltdown that has America facing its worst financial calamity since the great depression. The effects of the failed policies of the Bush and Republican agenda are being felt by the millions of innocent Americans who wait each week for their unemployment checks to arrive. These people wonder how they will survive into their supposed golden years now that their retirement funds are all but gone.

A new President is now in charge and with him is a Democratic Congress committed to the cause. Together they are attempting to turn the economy around and change the direction this country is headed. They are seeking a brighter future for all. The programs they proposed and should soon implement may not be perfect but they are certainly better than what we have lived through so far. And they are better than doing nothing.

However the leaders of the Republican Party continue to push for their proven failed agenda and obstruct any real healing that could come from true bi-partisan cooperation. This was most evident by the rebuttal of the President’s speech to Congress by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. In a time of crisis such as this just the thought of a rebuttal to a speech about healing and hope should be anathema. But the Republicans feel they are on the defensive and must therefore attack. It shows the fractured pig-headedness of the GOP as they continue to change that acronym into a new name the Grand Obstructionist Party.

This country is suffering from its second attack of the decade. The major difference this time is that the perpetrators personally walked away with millions in salaries and bonuses and received rewards for their attacks in the form of “Bailouts.” But make no mistake the failure of the banking system and the resultant recession are as damaging to this nation as any terrorist attack we have endured to date.

So where is the bi-partisan rally behind this President?

Where is the joining of hands to heal our nation?

Instead we see the brain trust of the Republican Party planning for their next assault on Congress and the White House. Rather than work to fix our problems they are positioning themselves with meetings such as CPAC (the Conservative Political Action Conference) to hone their message and find their next candidates in an effort to oust the Democrats from office.

The cover of the March 1st issue of the New York Times Magazine shows Newt Gingrich in a wonderfully devilish pose nearly chomping at the bit and proud of his title as “The Anti-Obama.” He along with Mr. Jindal and Republican Minority Whip Eric Cantor look to their spiritual leader Rush Limbaugh and are thinking only of themselves and how to get back into power.

Mr. Limbaugh is now famous for his utterance of his desire to see President Obama fail. Isn’t that the same thing Osama Bin Laden wishes for? Perhaps the two should get together.

What this nation needs right now is for our leaders to stop their silly finger pointing and petty bickering. We need them to get back to basics. And for guidance they must not look back to the last administration or even the one before but rather all the way back to the beginnings of our country. As President Lincoln did when he gave his monumentally moving Gettysburg Address noting that our fathers brought forth this nation conceived in Liberty. He beseeched all involved to make sure this nation would be reborn and he reminded all that the government was of, by, and for the people.

The founding fathers’ words were beautiful but may need just a tiny tweak today. To wit:

We the people of the United States, in order to keep our almost perfectly formed Union, continue to seek and establish Justice, insure and ensure our domestic Tranquility, provide for the common Defense both here and abroad where and only when necessary, promote the general Welfare of all our citizens especially those in need, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, must continue to use and be guided by the ordained and established Constitution for the United States of America.

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