The Question of Bipartisanship

Obama's attempts to practice bipartisanship would be more meaningful if both parts of the "bi" were representative of reasonable but differing perspectives. It should be obvious by now, though, that the party of Limbaugh is extremist in the extreme and completely out of touch with every aspect of reality--political, economic, and social.

Our national perspectives and conversations (if you can call them that) have been so skewed by feudalistic ideology that all of our political categories have been torqued to the right. What used to be considered a moderate Democrat is now considered a rabid lefty. Fortunately, that means that there are more rabid lefties around than there used to be. Lots more.

Alas, we have not only the Bushies to blame for the current skew but also the Clintonites, many of whom are back in power and are interpreting November's progressive mandate as a "right-of-center" mandate, with the "center" now sitting somewhere over toward 75 on a scale of 1 to 100.

So in fact I'm not surprised or displeased that the Republicans refuse to go along with Obama's attempts at bipartisanship. They continue to marginalize themselves and show their true colors, refusing to unclench their stranglehold on their disproved extremist, feudalistic ideology. Their supposed patriotism is clearly a sham. What they support is not the United States of America but the Feudal States of America. While they sing the old "tax and spend" song about the Democrats, they themselves can't let go of the old "tax cut (for the rich) and spend" ideology that got us into this mess in the first place.

Thanks to them the middle class is vanishing at an alarming rate. But they're not alarmed--they're delighted. The ginormous gap between the rich and the poor is exactly what they're after. It should be crystal clear that these ideologues do not embrace democracy or even republicanism. They are feudalists through and through. They want a king and an elite aristocracy and an army of plebes and peasants to do all their dirty work and grovel at their feet. They don't think this mess we're in is a mess at all. They think it's just peachy, and they want more of the same. The only reasonable reaction to their extremism is to throw the bums out, which is pretty much what we did in November.

These extremist ideologues are the ones who got us into this mess. And the mess around them--the pain of the growing numbers of unemployed and uninsured--will never convince them of the error of their ways, because they're enjoying it. Obama needs to accept the fact that the folks he's trying to make nice with don't have a worthy idea to offer in the present conundrum. The conundrum is their doing, and they're proud of their accomplishments. They have no help to offer.

This is not the moment for bipartisanship. This is the moment to dig us out of the mess those folks got us into. Here's hoping that the Republicans have managed to convince Obama that they're not going to play nice, no matter how dire the crisis, because to them it's not a crisis--it's an accomplishment. The people have delivered a progressive mandate, not a Clintonite mandate, not a right-of-center mandate. We have come to our senses and can see the ideologues for what and who they truly are. If they don't want to come along for the ride, don't lose any momentum trying to bring them along. It just isn't going to happen. We have serious work to do. Leave the feudalists to Limbaugh. He will marginalize them all the more.