Caver in Chief Redux

I had the evening all planned out tonight. Watch movies with my family, enjoy pork and sauerkraut, play with the kittens, relax and welcome the New Year in the traditional ways; however, lo and behold to my surprise, to what do my wondering eyes appear, but a Ball-less Caver in Chief, with a fiscal cliff deal pulled out of a horses rear. I reelected The President because he told me he would end the Bush tax cuts on those making 250,000 a year. That is 10 times more than I make a year, and nearly 5 times more than a majority of people make in a year. I reelected him because he promised with a second term he would not cave to Republicans hijacking the government and holding its citizens hostage. He promised to fight for us, to stand up for us and protect us from those who would attempt to let us rot while the rich made off like bandits off the backs of the rest of us. Instead, I ended up reelecting the Caver in Chief.


I think I have a pretty good bead on things in Washington. The way I see things, you have most Democrats who really do care about the country. They care about their voting constituencies, which happen to consist of mostly of the poor and uneducated, to the educated middle class groups, as well as ethnic groups, and single issue groups like the LGBT community, and Organized Labor. In other words, they really, truly do fight for the common person, because that is who their base is. Republicans rely on uneducated poor and middle class rural population centers, as well as Higher Income tax avoiders, the Ultra Wealthy, Business Interests, and the Religious Right. These groups do not make up a majority of Americans; however, they tend to be formidable because of the under educated poor and middle class groups who tend to rely on conservative media outlets for their news, who are lied to on a daily basis and consequently vote against their own self interests.

Clearly, President Obama knows this. It is fairly common knowledge to those who keep up with current events from a wide variety of media outlets. Still, even though he understands a majority of the American People support the positions he campaigned on and would hold Republicans responsible for any failure in the Fiscal Cliff talks, he decided to Cave to Republican demands. The American people demanded the rich pay their fair share, and Obama caves to Republicans who want to take from the poor and give to the rich. How is this leadership?

Either President Obama is out of his depth as a negotiator with Republicans, or the advisers he listens to are Republican shills; Otherwise, the advisers are completely incompetent or Obama is a Ball-less Caver in Chief! Now, even through his first term when I was diametrically opposed to something The President had done, I tried to look at his decision through a prism of the glass is half full. It must be part of a greater strategy, I told myself. Slowly, it grew into more of a dread feeling that the person I voted for would once again show himself as a Ball-less coward. The Fiscal Cliff situation cemented that feeling and made it an unmistakable reality.

Where do we go from here? Republicans like any child who throws a horrible tantrum, smashes toys, bites, kicks, and punches, until they get what they want, have learned they can hold the country hostage in any form or manner they choose, and President Obama will bend over and won't even bother asking for KY Jelly. Even with less power in congress, Republicans now effectively control the Federal Government. On top of this you have Republican state governments openly defying President Obama on what seems to be a daily basis. Republicans can get away with this, because they lie to the majority of their poor or under educated base, and they use single wedge issue voters to drive home an ideology that caters to the Wealthy and Business interest elite. Democrats Cave because they are afraid of even more damage Republicans brag about their willingness to do to the poor and middle class. At some point, as with any child you have to make a stand. Don't power struggle, don't cave to the demands and tantrums. If the child breaks their toys, that's it they don't get a new one to replace it. Republicans need to learn if they are willing to risk the American people in a game of political hostage taking, they should accept the consequences of their choices and be held accountable by the public when we fall off the cliff.

We could always get up again, dust ourselves off and work toward repairing the damage, but unless we allow the Republicans to suffer the consequences of their actions and stop caving to their demands, the new way of American Governance will be as it has been consistently over the last 4 years. Republicans obstruct everything, Democrats Cave, Obama is Ball-less, Republicans cater to the rich, the poor and middle class are thrown to the wolves, Republicans constantly threaten to blow up the country in one way or another, and they get their way because of it. I'm sorry folks, but this doesn't sound like the kind of world I want to live in, and it definitely isn't the kind of America I was brought up to believe in. With that said, the fault of all of this lies most directly with the American People in general, who have allowed politicians to get away with this crazy nonsense. Republicans are not being held accountable for their actions, and conservative media outlets like Fox News of Rush Limbaugh are outright lying to the American People on a Daily basis, 24 hours a day, and not being held accountable for their lies. So while we may have a Caver in Chief for the next 4 years, we all need to look in the mirror and point the finger at ourselves for the state of American Politics in the 21st Century.