President Obama, the Hoards Are Coming

Democrats are reeling. Not two years ago, they were talking about a permanent Democratic majority, and now House Democrats have taken a serious "shellacking," as our president so aptly put it.

In less than two days since the midterms, President Obama - who still has more power than they do - extended an olive branch, and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell extended a knife, claiming that his only priority was denying President Obama re-election in 2012.

Mr. President, in a few hundred years, your style of leadership may be all that is needed of an American president. Folks on the opposing side will probably respond a lot better to a genuine willingness to share governance and to work in a cooperative spirit. But that day is a long way off, and today we need a president who is willing to get his hands dirty - not by playing dirty, but by showing up, hitting hard, and getting it RIGHT for God's sake! That's why we elected you, not just to get shit done, but to do it in a way that just makes so much sense that you can't help but want to be a part of it. We made a good choice in electing candidate Obama; President Obama, you need to trust the American electorate and give us the gifted, articulate orator whose wisdom and obvious fairness we voted for in the first place.

At the same time, we as a people need to set an example for this progressive vision. We need to work together within our own community to show a united front to those who stand self-righteously on the backs of the poorest 95% of the country. Who cares if gay people get what they want before the immigrant population does? Instead of saying, "My turn! My turn!" we should have been saying, "No, after you! I insist!" We can agree to disagree about what the health care bill should have looked like, but can we all just agree that this is a step in the right direction, and that we have far better things to worry about than whether we can ever get a public option thrown in there somewhere?

What we have is an emboldened, radicalized Republican party on the rise, about to obtain vast legislative and investigative power, and wielding an agenda that is wholly and unequivocally destructive to this country and potentially the planet. It is not hyperbole to say this, nor is it a partisan position. This is what even moderate Republicans will tell you when no one is listening, and it is what we know based on hard data and expert opinion.

As progressives, we cannot afford to close our eyes and hope the craziness will just go away on its own. Millions of people have lost their homes and their livelihoods due to the free-wheeling, government-abusing ways of the Bush Republican party, so we know how bad bad can get, and based on what they're so proudly telling us, we know it can get so much worse.

This is why we need to learn to be comfortable wielding power. We need to be willing to have those confrontations that will almost certainly get ugly, but hold true to our principles and NOT roll over. We must prove that the way of inclusion and equality holds the force of truth, in stark contrast to the empty platitudes of freedom (for the rich to pollute the air we all have to breath) and free markets (which worked out so well for us in the end, right?). We have two years to prove to the reasonable, voting liberals and independents out there that we do not hurt ourselves when we help others, and those who poison the well are not the ones you want to put in charge of the water supply.

President Obama, please stand up and lead this charge to greatness!