Give it up, Obama

Elderly lawyer drives through safety
cones, hits worker, continues driving
with worker on hood of Mercedes.

While I find it commendable that President Obama would like to create bipartisanship in our government, it appears to me to be a lost cause. I see no evidence whatsoever of any serious attempt by Republicans to act honorably in a bipartisan manner. Not only did they hold up some of Obama’s nominations for no good reason, they are insisting that his 850 billion dollar stimulus plan must contain substantial tax cuts. Rather than spending money on infrastructure and on the middle class, while at the same time going another 850 billion in debt, they want more tax cuts? To put it frankly, this is madness, and if Obama gives in to them on this he will already have failed miserably in his attempt to resurrect our dying economy. The Republican answer to anything and everything has always been tax cuts and we know full well what this policy has produced in the past eight years – deficits as far as the eye can see that will be lasting for a long time to come. One can only laugh hysterically at someone like Boehner criticizing Obama’s spending after the deficits his party ran up recently. That Republicans think they have anything of worth to offer Obama is little more than Alice in Wonderland thinking at this point. So I say, give it up, Obama, reconcile yourself to the sad fact that trying to work with a band of simple-minded, one-track minds is neither worthwhile nor necessary. Let them stay locked into the 20th century while the rest of us move on.
I must say I am very pleased with everything Obama has done so far (except for the stupid tax breaks). My hope is actually turning into optimism for the first time in years. But there are so many things he could do that would delight me no end. He could, for example, end the failed and miserable “war on drugs,” make them legal, and put the issue back in the hands of the medical profession rather than leaving it in the hands of politicians. He could create a single-payer universal health system (any kind of universal health care would be great at this point in time). He could start a serious investigation of the war crimes of Bush/Cheney and hold them accountable for the first time. He could end our ridiculous non-relationship with Cuba. But of course he has his hands full at the moment with the economy, the two failing wars, the genocidal Israelis, and the Republican more or less meaningless adversarial tactics, to say nothing of the incessant insane ramblings of the far right lunatics like Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, and others who will never offer him any respect or credit no matter what he does.
Somewhere today I saw something that suggested that Dirk Kempthorne (he of the $235,000 bathroom) might run for President in 2012 (Perhaps if his only competition was the delightful and always entertaining Sarah Palin?). I guess he could boast that his Rubber Dodo Award (look it up) makes Palin’s objections to listing the Polar Bear pale into insignificance. Perhaps they could run together as a team, they seem to share a genuine dislike of all animal species other than their own.

Tanka:

hazy autumn moon
the sound of chestnuts dropping
from an empty sky
I gather your belongings
into boxes for the poor

Margaret Chula

TILT:
An adult male wolverine can have a home territory of as much as 240 square miles.