Happy Birthday! Now….Let’s talk, Barack

Now at Dkos

I’m getting close to another birthday too! And since you are a bit younger than me, I thought this might be a good day to have a little chat, maybe even pass along a little wisdom gained with years that you may not have arrived at. Yet.

First of all….just in case you haven;t noticed….The Republicans are assholes. Professional assholes, in point of fact.

And despite your considerable charm, you just aren’t going to win them over. Yeah I understand the political theater of bipartisanship, but you have pretty much milked that for all it is worth, right? The midterms are coming up, and as always, and certainly as we see on the HCR tactics, if you don’t kick their ass, they will kick yours. Iow…..it’s time to stop pretending they are reasonable partners and being nice and start really exposing them for who and what they are. Assholes.

If you do that, if you take the gloves off and really tell the American People what is going on (remeber most of ’em don’t know or don’t care, they just absorb the Repub BS like sponges….or Head On commercials)…just think! You could buck the historical trend and pick up seats in 2010! Plus if you kick a little Republican ass from the podium, (your recent efforts ain’t bad, but you can do better!) it might even throw a little scare into the Blue Dogs and let them know you aren’t gonna put up with their grandstanding shit aimed at defeating yer policies too!

Then you need to talk to a few Senators. Landreiu, Ben Nelson, Max Baucus….Joe freaking Lieberman, and Harry. Let them know what the deal is Barack. Let them know that the People don’t give a shit about comity and collegiality and the sanctity of their little club. The People want results. And if the Senate doesn’t get their shit together and give them some, it hurts ALL Democrats. Remind them of the elections after Clinton couldn’t deliver Health Care. Majorities are to USE….not to get better parking places in the Senate lot.

So hey, we all understand how important Health Care is politically, even if they don’t….but after Health Care, and especially after the failure of bipartisanship it is so starkly illustrating, it is time to get down to business….unencumbered by having to fluff the pillows of the Repubs. They have proven three times now, on the Stimulus, the budget and now HCR that ALL they are tryng to do is make you….and America, fail. So fuck em.

It is time to start doing the right thing on all the issues that you…..and WE have shunted to the side to work on HCR.

Kill DADT, fr’instance.

Tell Holder to ramp it up….and fer gawdsakes ram the rest of his staff, Like Dawn Johnsen through so he can do his job. IT’S BEEN SIX MONTHS!!! Get Holder his people and then get him busy! Going after the current corruption….and the corruption of the Bush years.

Like, ya know, that torture stuff. Cheney’s bark is worse than his bite, believe me, it is time to stop being afraid of him. Maybe YOU should read the memos Holder read, that he said turned his stomach. I know you are busy, but….it IS kinda important not to let War Criminals of the hook on your watch.

Then there is that whole Wall Street ripping everybody off and crashing the economy thing.

Maybe when we work through those and a few other issues we can start getting down to the meat, saving the planet. I know you don’t think Waxman/Markey is anything much more than a joke, right? Well neither does anyone else with a brain.

It was great btw, how you finally asked the bloggers for help on HCR. You might wanna keep that up! But I can tell you what just about all of us would say if you asked….and then I will let you get to your cake…

Messaging messaging messaging.

As HCR has (we all hope!) taught you and your boys, the ONLY thing the Repubs have going for them….no ideas, no policy, NO popularity…is messaging. They play the media like a fiddle and conduct their PR like a symphony. This has ALWAYS been a Dem weak spot, and you need to lead the charge to fix it. Yeah, I know, it is MUCH harder to get the message across on complex issues and make them into effective sound bites and PR campiagns than it is to just yell NO! like the Repubs get to do.

But.

IF you want to win on all of these world changing issues, you and yer boys are just gonna HAVE to find a way to do that better!

Ok, I’m done, I know you are a busy guy, and I truly admire the way you are trying to change the world….one increment at a time….but hey, we are running OUT of time. It is time to step it up.

You tried the ‘nice’ way for six months and it has gotten you….and us….squat.

Get out there and kick some ass!

And Happy Birthday!