I am of two minds on the subject of the Republicans in Congress. On the one, I'm delighted by their full-frontal balls-out obstructionist response to Obama's attempt to save the country's economy from total collapse. They have decided to reenact the political equivalent of Custer's Last Stand with 67%+ of the public playing the part of the Native Americans. Or perhaps the more appropriate analogy would be the kamikaze pilots of World War II. They did it in total obedience and loyalty to the Emperor. These guys seem to be doing it in total obedience and loyalty to whom? Ronald Reagan? Newt Gingrich? Rush Limbaugh?
On the other, I am astonished by how totally deaf, dumb, and blind they are to a:) the desperate straits the country is in; and, b:) the will of the American people. There is a 100% disconnect between them and the rest of nation. This "give no quarter" approach to the crisis is mind-boggling. They all can't be that totally stupid. Do they actually think that by allowing the country to collapse into economic ruin and by inference cause Obama's presidency to fail that this will somehow ensure their return to power in 2010 or 2012? It's that "We'll be greeted as liberators" mentality which got them and us into Iraq.
It is truly a bunker mentality. While they huddle together for warmth and mutual reassurance within their Capitol Hill stronghold, they have lost touch with the reality of the battles raging across the country from millions of jobs lost, homes repossessed, families ruined. Yet they plot and plan on their political maps, moving around imaginary divisions and battalions of faithful foot soldiers which were wiped out over the last two years. And they have their own 21st century of Tokyo Rose in the person of Rush Limbaugh. While Rush rants and raves and inveighs against Obama's forces which have rested control from the Republicans and warns of the ruination of America that will surely follow, only the Kool-Aid drinkers are swallowing it. The rest of us just laugh and point.
Maybe they should start to follow the advice of their former leader, George W. Bush and listen to what their commanders on the ground are telling them. Those would be the Republican governors who are in the thick of it and are ready to do whatever it takes to protect the citizens of their states. Did they miss that message they were sent yesterday by Charlie Crist in Florida?
Not that I want them to suddenly see the light and come to reality. Far from it. The more they dig themselves in, the longer it will take for them to dig themselves out.