I hope President Obama has learned a lesson. Yesterday, his mammoth economic stimulus package passed the House of Representatives. If you remember, Obama bent over backward to appease Republicans and get their votes by adjusting his plan to make one-third of the “stimuli” a series of tax cuts rather than more public spending. OK, he said he’d be a bipartisan president, and he gave it a shot. So how many Republicans were swayed by Obama’s largesse? Nada. None. Not even one. Exactly zero Republican representatives voted for the stimulus package, although it still passed by 66 votes.
Here’s the lesson I hope Obama learns from this: simply put, you can’t please these assholes, you never will, they’ll never “get it,” so to hell with ’em. Prez O, you’ve got the votes to ram what you were resoundingly elected to do down the Republicans’ throats. So do it. Did Roosevelt worry about the GOP’s reactions during the New Deal? A little, but not much. Did LBJ hesitate to push Medicare through when he had a huge Congressional majority? Of course not. It’s politics, O, not tiddlywinks. You made a nice gesture, too bad it didn’t work out. Now, get back to work and screw these jerks. There’s too much at stake to hesitate again.
This article appears in Jan 27 – Feb 3, 2009.
