Today, I was dismayed to check the news online and see that Barack Obama was opening great swathes of America to off-shore drilling. It felt like such a downer, you know? The health care win, republicans in shambles, but then, this? Really? It was kind of like eating a really great dinner, champagne, fillet Mignon, the works, only to find out dessert is a Twinkie. But then, I had a thought (very rare) and the evidence bears this thought out and if this thought is true, then Barack Obama is a brilliant and beautiful man.
So, the health care bill. It wasn't perfect, it wasn't what the majority of us wanted, but it was SOMETHING, right? But it was also something else, a large part of that health care bill was made up of republican ideas from an age right before 'the great insanening' aka the late 90's. Bob Dole's ideas are in the bill, Mitt Romney's ideas are in the bill. Where is Mitt Romney now? Well, at this minute, line removed because it was filthy filthy and comments convinced me, but a few days ago, he was on television bemoaning the health care bill that was filled with ideas he ostensibly supported. Curious.
And today, Barack Obama is getting ready to allow what Sarah Palin constantly fought for, in her inane way, "Drill, Baby, Drill" she screeched. She claimed that Barack Obama doesn't understand energy the way she does. And that is an absolutely true statement because Sarah Palin "understands" energy to be left over angel farts. Well, now Barack Obama is indeed Drilling, Baby, Drilling. Where do you think Sarah Palin will be in the coming days? I am guessing on TV decrying his decision to do exactly what she wanted to do. Her reasoning is unknown to me, she might say it's harmful environmentally, she might say the government has no constitutional right to give land to corporations, who knows? But as surely as Mitt Romney called his own health care ideas socialism, thereby making himself a so-called socialist, Sarah Palin will follow him right off that cliff.
The main complaint of the last year seems to have been, "Why is Barack Obama giving into the Republicans, they're not going to compromise!" We see his compromises as giving in because they aren't things we want so we rail against them, but, they are things Republicans want (or at least said they wanted) but what do the Republicans do? Do they say, "Wow, that Barack Obama, he actually listened to our ideas"? Nope. Instead, they argue against him and by extension their own ideas. Barack Obama is essentially making the Republicans punch themselves in their own face. He is systematically eliminating their ideology, further marginalizing them. What will they have to run on in 2012? He's taking their best positions, the ones with the most hope for compromise, getting said compromise, lessening the damage these positions under Republican rule would cause, and leaving Republicans with nothing. Given enough time and Republican insanity, by the end of this first term, Barack Obama will have Republicans arguing AGAINST tax cuts and deregulation. The Party of No will soon be the Party of No Longer.
Six months ago, if you had asked me if I felt voting for Barack Obama was a mistake, I would have said, 'no' but I would have had to think about it. I'm done with that sort of thinking. Barack Obama is a smart, capable man. I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt. I am excited to work on his campaign come 2012. I am excited to vote for him again.