the long game

I'm listening to Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Lawrence O'Donnell talk about the recent vote on the President's compromise with the insane party regarding taxes and it hit me.

I can say that I have had faith in this President because he's smarter than me. I can also say that there have been some things that I have been disappointed by. Strangely enough, I learned that I don't conform to what the media tells me is The Left. What the President called The Professional Left. I come from a long line of democrats on my mother's side. My father's side is from Utah, nuff said? Anyway, my grandfather took me to the Register of Deeds on my 18th birthday to register to vote. He told me that I could register with either party. He then told me why he was a democrat. I wish I could remember his exact words but I'm getting old and my once good memory has left me, but I do remember the vibe I got while listening to him. What sums it up is pretty simple: We are Americans, we help each other ...it's who we are.  He said it had been his experience that the party that most aligned with that were the democrats. (This is one of the strongest reasons I support this President. He thinks like my grandpa. :))


This President has had a long game strategy all along. I knew that when I voted for him, but listening to Mr. Kucinich talk about why he voted for the bill, I realized it again. I also watched Dr. Nouriel Roubini on Rachel tonight talk about how things could return to a doomsday scenario. When the President announced this deal he said the next two years are for fighting about taxes. And he's right. Taxes are going to have to go up. There's no way around it. The only thing left to do to fix this mess we haven't bothered to fix or think about for thirty years is raise taxes. They can have their cuts now, but over the next two years....those extravagances for the wealthy are going to have to go away. And if unemployment doesn't get any better under republican leadership in the House, there's not much they can do to help themselves. It is clear to those of us who follow politics in between elections, have known for a while, but the rest of the public will see over the next two years how hollow those arguments are. And with the inner struggles the establishment republicans are going to have with their far right wing televangelist crowd, the media won't be able to keep it from showing up everywhere. I mean, my god they put Michelle Bachmann on the Intelligence Committee!

So there's my thought for the day. It's a long game...we have to figure out how to live in a 24/7-politics-as-reality-show world and remember that.