Cavesville Centre: a rant

Is it ever possible for Barack Obama to take a position without caving?

Yes, I understand that he doesn't want to appear to be "an angry black man." Yes, I understand that he wants to appear as the voice of reason and compromise.

Yes, I understand that he thinks that compromise is better than losing.

However, I think he is now hurting himself simply because people want a leader who is strong and is not afraid of fighting and winning. That's why they liked Reagan.

Obama is now rapidly approaching total wimpdom -- if he hasn't already reached that state.

Doesn't he understand that he was chosen in a national election, while Boehner is simply a representative of one congressional district? Doesn't he understand that Boehner is extremely unpopular with the American public? Doesn't he understand that people want him to pick a fight and win it already? To draw a line and not back down. If he constantly retreats from what he claims are his principles, how good are those principles if they are so easily relinquished?

Doesn't he understand that he has to put down the flock of Republican presidential aspirants by thumbing his nose at their twice rescheduled debate? He is The President and they are the Seven (or however many they are) Dwarfs of Fairytale Land. Can he be afraid of their anti-science stances? Can he be afraid of their support for the rich? Why won't he pick a fight with them and win it?

I am pretty partisan, but I am getting disgusted and disillusioned. This jobs speech better be pretty good and tough, and he'd better show total commitment to what he proposes. I've long felt that one should support and work for a Democratic candidate because if the Republicans take over, lots of folks less well-off than I am will get hurt. But now I'm beginning to feel that it doesn't make much of a difference with Obama since he can't be counted on to help the people he claims to be supporting.

Yes, Republicans are beneath contempt, and will do all in their power to enact policies that are truly harmful. But, just maybe, the best strategy is to let them, once again, have their way, and maybe this time the disaster they create will lead to their destruction as a political force. Maybe after this next disaster we'll get a president who'll administer the political coup de grace and not seek out bipartisanship. What, though, will it take for this to happen?