Bottom of the ninth, two men out

President Obama has reached a pivotal moment in his presidency. He has a chance to build overwhelming popular support to help rebuild this country. Or, he can persist in trusting that the essential human decency of his Republican opponents will someday emerge. He cannot do both. The Republicans have refused the hand of friendship and spat in his face. The belief that they will start to act in the best interests of the country is nothing short of delusional. Even some who stayed home, or voted Republican, on November 2 are starting to recognize this fact. The Republicans insist that we must spend hundreds of billions on tax-cuts for the wealthy. At the same moment, they claim we're too broke to help keep millions of jobless off the streets. This hypocrisy exposes the GOP as a mere political arm of the most heartless plutocrats. Even the billionaire Warren Buffet is offended by these corrupt charlatans. Yet, over the last couple of weeks President Obama has gone the extra mile to give the Republicans, and their big-money sponsors, another chance to start behaving in a responsible fashion. At this point the President needs to put his foot down hard. He can no longer afford to listen to those who tell him that the plutocrats need to be part of the process. His only chance to regain some public trust, and political power, is to show Americans that he knows that trickle-down economics doesn't work. He needs to point out that it's wrong for a handful of Americans to profit from outsourcing jobs and foreclosing on homes. He needs to start demanding, without apology, that those who wrecked our economy with their reckless greed play a role in helping start to make it whole.

I don't think President Obama likes to confront his political enemies. He had dearly hoped that he could be a leader who inspired everyone to do the right thing, irregardless of race, class, or political party. Yet appealing to our better natures will not always work. President Obama must simply accept that some will defend to the death their profits and privilege. Others have been brainwashed by Faux News to robotically follow the Republican talking points of the day, even if they're in direct contradiction to the Republican talking points of yesterday. The other two-thirds of the country is ready to believe that Republicans aren't working for them. It's President Obama's job to convince them they are actually represented by Democrats. The only way to credibly make that case is to begin standing up to the plutocrats, at least on some issues.