Remember all the noise from neo-conservatives over the thought of President Obama sitting down with….gasp….Iranian leaders?
Remember all those ignorant Villager gotcha questions Obama fielded during the presidential election campaign over…gasp….sitting down with Iranian leaders?
Would pre-conditions have to be met before an American president could….gasp…talk to Iranian leaders? Shouldn't Iranian leaders first meltdown all their nuclear fuel and hand it over to the IAEA before Obama should even consider….gasp….talking to Iranian leaders?
Good times.
Now the pre-conditions for meetings of detente with "foreign" leaders are being set by Congressional Republicans. The "foreign" leader this time…..is the U.S. President. The "meetings of detente" are the proposed bipartisan talks Obama has offered to hold with Congressional members over health care reform.
And here are the Republicans' pre-conditions before they will sit down to….gasp…talks with the U.S. "foreign" leader……
Assuming the President is sincere about moving forward on health care in a bipartisan way, does that mean he will agree to start over so that we can develop a bill that is truly worthy of the support and confidence of the American people?
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Assuming the President is sincere about moving forward in a bipartisan way, does that mean he has taken off the table the idea of relying solely on Democratic votes and jamming through health care reform by way of reconciliation?
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If the President intends to present any kind of legislative proposal at this discussion, will he make it available to members of Congress and the American people at least 72 hours beforehand?
Having been beaten worse than a rented mule by President Obama recently when House Republicans met with America's "foreign" leader for a Q & A session……John Boehner(R-OH) and Eric Cantor(R-VA) have now insisted, in a letter to Rahm, that Obama must meet certain pre-conditions before they step into the ring again with this dangerous, incalcitrant "foreign" leader.
Obama, as most "foreign" leaders do, responded to the Republicans through his diplomat, Robert Gibbs….
The President looks forward to reviewing Republican proposals that meet the goals he laid out at the beginning of this process, and as recently as the State of the Union Address. He’s open to including any good ideas that stand up to objective scrutiny. What he will not do, however, is walk away from reform and the millions of American families and small business counting on it.
Change a few words around……and you have the same discussion that neo-conservatives nuts tried to force on us over talks with Iran's Ahmadinajab. It's uncanny.
But that's where we are now in the U.S. political process. One political party's objective is regime change. Isn't that so? From the beginning of 2009, hasn't the Republican's only goal been the same as Rushbo's…….regime change in the U.S?
Now, with an obstructionistic war-like strategy that places demands on it's political opponent before direct communications can even be opened…….aren't the Republicans telling Americans, just as they did with Ahmadinajab, that the U.S. "foreign" leader can't be trusted?
Boehner and Cantor, through a communique to the U.S. "foreign" leader's diplomat, are telling voters, that America's "foreign" leader is not just dangerous…..but SO dangerous and untrustworthy that a groundfloor of pre-conditions must be met before diplomatic talks can begin.
What else can Republicans do at this point?
GOP'ers have spent over a year trying to diminish Obama's popularity, delegitimize him as they did with the evil fellatio recipient, William Clinton. GOP'ers have done everything imaginable to brand Obama as an "enemy of America." Obama is a "socialist", "Muslim", "coddles Islamic extremists", is "not a U.S. citizen", and "wants to pull the plug on your grandma."
Hell, you can't blame the Republicans for setting pre-conditions before sitting down with such an obviously evil "foreign" leader.
Finally….just think what could happen if America's "foreign" leader doesn't meet those GOP pre-conditions over health care reform. Obama's rogue "mullahs" in Congress just might pass reform with the….gasp…..reconciliation process, requiring only 51 Senate votes. And wouldn't that be just like Ahmadinajab handing out nukes to Bin Laden?
No question….to Republicans, there's little distinction between Ahmadinajab and Obama. Both are dangerous "foreign" leaders where the only solution is regime change. Both are untrustworthy enemies of America who must meet certain pre-conditions before talks of negotiation can be opened. While Republicans claimed that Ahmandinajab's largest threat was the chance he might Fed-Ex a truck full of nuclear fuel to Bin Laden's cave…..the 'foreign" leader, Obama, just might give health insurance to all Americans.
And that's something we should really be afraid of.
