The Republicans (in Congress) aren't our friends.
They don't want unity.
They don't want to work with us.
They want to force us to bend to their will, and failing that... to obstruct everything that we try to do.
You know, business as usual...for them.
Why would they want to change? It's working for them, just like it always has.
Until their basic philosophy changes, no amount of good will, no offers of cooperation, no compromise on our part will do a damn bit of good.
They will take what we give them and offer nothing in return.
Because that's how they play the game.
They will posture and preen for the media, and threaten us with gridlock, harass us and obstruct our every move.
Because it has always worked for them before.
And, like in the past, and like what is happening right now...
We will cave in.
Unless we elect someone who can fight back. Someone who is tougher than the Republicans are. Someone who knows how the game is played, and will not fall for the same old tricks.
Someone who will twist the arms of the House and Senate leadership until they grow a collective spine.
Someone who will outplay the Rethugs at their own game.
That's the only way things will ever change... we have to make it so that the game the Republicans have been playing so well all these years is no longer any fun.
All the talk of change and transformation in the world won't do us a damn bit of good. Until we can show the Rethugs the error of their ways, things will never change.
It will be a long and painfully contentious process, but if we have a leader strong enough to stick it out, we will get there. And once we do, we can start using tose words again, and start thinking about a candidate that exemplifies those concepts... a candidate like Sen. Obama.
One day.
But today is a different day, and today calls for a different kind of leader.
Today, we need a warrior... a canny, strategic thinker who won't back down and who will never give up.
Sen. Dodd, Sen. Biden or Sen. Edwards would all have been good choices to fill that role.
And so would Sen. Hillary Clinton.
You don't take an olive branch to a gunfight... because the person with the gun will take away the branch and beat you with it, then they will give you a wedgie, noogies and possible a swirlie... before sending you back home to lick your wounds. I would hate to see that happen to Sen Obama, especially for 4 long years.
A Hillary Clinton presidency will not be pretty... it will be a dogfight from start to end, and there will be contention beyond anything we gave seen before.
Simply because we have never fought back before.
It will be ugly because she will stand up to the Republican machine, and eventually we will win.
And the Republicans, broken and licking their wounds, will for the first time see the wisdom of playing nice.
And hopefully at that point Barack Obama or someone like him can take over, and bring this country together.
But you don't send a peacemaker to do a warrior's job.
History is full of examples of just why that is such a bad idea.
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