in distress by sandiegofreepress.com
Here we go again. Paul Ryan and his fellow Republican
sociopaths have resurrected their budget that is designed to destroy America's most
important social programs while further protecting the interests of the wealthy.
As the Republicans continue their attempts to initiate this destructive
process, they are presenting Mr. Obama with a brilliant political opportunity.
Some would say the president should simply dismiss and
ignore this demented method of controlling governmental spending but that would
be a mistake. Ryan's budget is getting a lot of attention in the
corporate-controlled media and that must be stopped. Mr. Obama must attack it
vociferously and use its content to convince the American people of the
extensive pain and suffering that the Republicans intend to inflict upon them.
It's time for this president to stop playing games with the
Republican misfits and expose them as the menace that they have become to this
nation. Mr. Obama needs to stop playing defense, take the offensive, and flood
the national media with this message to Mr. Ryan and his GOP cohorts: "We are
not going to allow you to destroy the Affordable Health Care Act that will
benefit up to 30 million Americans who would otherwise not be covered by health
care insurance."
"We are not going to allow you to destroy Medicare by
replacing it with a voucher system that would, in effect, severely water down or
eliminate health care for millions of Americans and make it unavailable for
millions more who badly need it; no, Mr. Ryan, we will not let you do this by
any stretch of the imagination." And lastly he should, once and for all, make
it crystal clear to Ryan and his fellow sociopaths that "We will not allow you
to touch any part of Social Security; it has no connection with the deficit and
it is a non-negotiable issue.
He needs to stop playing their game and make them play his
because, whether he realizes it or not, he has the upper hand. He needs to send
a strong message to Republicans, telling them that the majority of the American
people totally reject their reckless destructive budget; that it is already dead
on arrival. This president needs to put a national spotlight on that extremely
cruel budget proposal and use Ryan's exact wording to ignite the anger and
revulsion of the very people that would greatly suffer if its provisions ever
were put into effect.
This is a party that has no intention of ever changing; one
that can't relate to the people of America. They have every intention
of continuing to support the masters of American Corporatism to dominate and
control the citizens of this country. The people now have become fully aware of
their intentions and are waiting for someone, i.e., this president, to step
forward and deliver the knockout blow that will send them into political
purgatory.
These swaggering, arrogant political bullies need to be
put in their place once and for all but many of Mr. Obama's current and former
supporters now have little to no confidence that he will do any such thing;
that he will let this brilliant opportunity to take down the Republicans pass
by. And, further, that he just doesn't seem to have the political courage and
determination to "strike while the iron is hot."
This president has proven to be very much on the offensive
when it comes to exercising his military powers around the world. He has also
taken the offensive when it comes to signing onto legislation that puts more and
more restrictions on the Constitutional rights and freedoms of the people. But
when it comes to dealing with a political party that is in a state of inner turmoil
and dissension he just doesn't seem to possess the same aggressive mindset that
is so sorely needed.
How many more times must the American people listen and be
subjected to this verbal garbage flowing out of the mouth of these Republicans
who just won't accept the fact that they have become political pariahs? Their
message is old, outdated, obsolete and completely meaningless. They don't seem
to understand that they are cutting their own throats when they threaten to
take away important social programs from the very people whose vote they need
to continue to exist?
So let's watch closely and see what President Obama does
in the next few weeks with regard to this latest piece of political trash, aka
the Paul Ryan Budget proposal. He can seize this brilliant opportunity and use
that same budget to make Ryan and his party look like the fools that they are
or he can continue to let them remain on the political center stage and try to
fool the people.
When I speak of a brilliant opportunity I mean that Mr.
Obama has the means by which he could virtually cripple the Republican Party
and, possibly, make it extinct going into the future. The majority of the
American people are listening and waiting for this kind of strong talk from
this president and if he does exactly that, it could spell doom for Republican
candidates running in the 2014 elections. He has a chance to reconfigure this
Congress and put an end to the current gridlock and obstructive tactics that
have plagued it. But, then why is it that I have this feeling that he is not up
to the task?
It is becoming more and more evident that what we the
people are watching taking place on this political stage in Washington D.C.
is a production that is being orchestrated by both of these parties in order to
pursue some kind of common agenda, one whose specific motives are not fully
clear at this time. What may be going on could be what is referred to as tacit
collusion; an agreement of a covert nature that hides what really is going on.
Some call this the
Grand Bargain. But
we can bet that whatever may be on the drawing board will most likely involve very
negative consequences for everyone in this country except the wealthy.
And this is why an increasing number of President Obama's
supporters are becoming more and more suspicious of his true intentions. They
have watched as his Justice Department has refused to prosecute anyone in the
Bush administration for war crimes, specifically torture and water boarding.
They have waited for investigations into the financial crimes that have been
committed by the Wall Street robber barons but to no avail. They have seen
Harry Reid and this president fail to mutually initiate steps to change the
Senate filibuster rules that would prevent the continued obstruction of key
legislation by the Republicans.
We the people need to watch this
president very closely in the coming weeks to see just how he deals with the
monumentally important issue of austerity and see if he finally shows some
strength and courage and do what is right for this country and the many
millions of Americans who put their faith in him when they reelected him. If he
fails to live up to expectations and let's the Republicans dominate this issue
at the expense of the American people then his influence on domestic matters
will, at this early point in his second term, be meaningless and his presidency
will become irrelevant.
If the bruised and battered Republicans who were ready to
go down for the count manage to get back up, if there are no necessary
increased revenues from additional taxes on the rich, if Mr. Obama caves in
again and allows Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other social programs
to be put back on the chopping block, then the worst fears of many millions of
Americans will become a reality and they will know that they have been
betrayed.
Michael Payne is an independent progressive activist. His writings deal
with social, economic, political and foreign policy issues. He is a
graduate of Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois and a U.S. Army
veteran. His primary objective is to (more...) 
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
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