Dear America,

and we're back to health care.

He told Katie on Sunday, "[republicans] want to ask them to put their ideas on the table, and then after the recess, which will be a few weeks away, I want to come back and have a large meeting, the Republicans and Democrats, to go through systematically all the best ideas that are out there and move it forward."

So now he wants a "large meeting"; not to be confused with the umpteen mini meetings behind closed doors where the republicans were all but shut out openly and transparently in front of all 300 million Americans.

Now, he wants to hear republican ideas (even though they had them all along).  Now, he wants to include republicans.  Now, he wants to have a "large meeting" where both sides are brought to the table.  Didn't we elect him to begin that last year?

And, make no mistake there miss katie, my focus on health care (again) is not going against my commitment to jobs; "in retrospect, jobs were my number one priority last year [don't you remember], that's why we did the stimulus package...maintaining the jobs we had...growing infrastructure...if we hadn't..."

SO, with regards to the stimulus package: "Do I wish we could have done it faster? That it hadn't been so painfully slow through the legislative process? Absolutely. But it was the right thing to do then, it continues to be the right thing," he said.

Painfully slow?  You became President on January 20, 2009 and within thirty days, on February 17th to be exact, the stimulus bill was signed into law with your left paw; if that is painfully slow, then by all accounts and according to how you roll, Mr. President, this health care legislation must be going backwards at warp speed.

SO, which is it really, jobs or health care?
SO, did you talk to Reid and Pelosi about including republicans last year in the conversation, or do you take the fifth on that?
SO, the stimulus worked so well the first time, you feel the need to ramp up and do it again, is that it?
SO, when your administration sent SEIU members to disrupt town hall meetings last summer, that was just our imagination?  After dismissing the hearts and minds of the people, you still want to push a legislation that costs too much and doesn't fix the real issues at hand and goes against the will of the people and the law of the land (as you well know, being an "expert" in Constitutional Law)?

You and your democratic super majority had the capability to ram whatever you wanted through congress -- you just knew, all of you, that the people wouldn't tolerate such nonsense. 

I got news for you, it was painfully slow for us Americans to watch the antics back and forth for the last year and 21 days and five hours, not that I'm counting...

What is painfully slow is waiting for the November elections -- just to catch a glimmer of hope -- that one day soon all of this will go away.
What seems to be running painfully slow is your entire term; at this point, I don't think we can get you out of there fast enough.

And what is certainly painfully slow is listening to the empty rhetoric dripping out of the mouths of the people's house, the people's seat, the people's representatives like a broken sewer, slowly trickling into the crevasses below our foundation, unseen and mischievously going about it's business, until one day the ground will just open up and swallow us whole.
Day after day, watching the closed door sessions.
Day after day, listening to the flip and the flop of partisan politics gone awry.
Day after day, being called names like "nazi's" and "astro-turf" and "extremists garnering guns and swastikas".

All this, from a government who belongs to us, the people!

What seems to be, by all appearances, a painfully slow death of our constitution and this country calls for action -- action that may require a little overdrive  -- in order to right the wrong, make the crooked road straight, once more.


But the thing is, we are so far off course, the painfully slow reality is settling in -- it may be that no amount of speed will be enough to catch up with the recklessness of Washington.

All the while, as we hear our President say things like 'it takes time', 'a little longer than we expected', 'it's not going as fast as we would have liked', it's 'painfully slow' -- what we feel inside is quite the contrary. 

Here's an idea for Katie, what is going on in Washington is too much!  too soon!  too fast!   not what we want! and never will be painfully slow enough!  for our liking. 
 
We see the curves up ahead, and we want to slow down.
We see the broken bridge and realize there is no other way around.
We see the finish line on the horizon -- and all we want to do is stop, dead in our tracks, before it's too late.
 
The irony really. 
 
IF only our President realized that an environment that supports real job growth -- not government growth (currently at it's all-time high @ 14%) --one that lowers business and capital gains taxes, supports thriving and active competition in the marketplace, promotes ALL businesses, large and small -- only then will we have the makings to create the jobs necessary for the 10-20% of Americans currently unemployed and who want to be fully, and gainfully, an active participant in society. 
 
Subsequently, when people are employed, they will have health insurance offered to them or are able to afford it on their own; by opening commerce over state lines, insurance companies will be able to finally compete for true market share, naturally providing better service and opportunities to increase sales and their customer base, otherwise they will fail; with simple reforms added in to remedy fraud, malpractice or wrongful litigation, ultimately the cost of providing care to all of us will correct itself, becoming more manageable and fair.
 
The irony really; if our president just stopped overcompensating in the turns, flip flopping from jobs to health care and back again, and simply concentrated on creating the best and the brightest free market on earth, the relationship between our health meeting job opportunity would surely go hand in hand, making all of our little engines begin to purr.
 
A sweet hum on down the road, that's my kind of painfully slow, what's yours?

"A wise and frugal government,

which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement,

and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned --

 this is the sum of good government."

 Thomas Jefferson

 

"The circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money."

James Madison

 

"Democracy...while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. 

Remember, democracy never lasts long. 

It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. 

There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide." 

John Adams

 

"The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. 

You have to catch it yourself." 

Benjamin Franklin

 

It's not up for discussion; it is not the duty of this President to decide if it's a conversation about jobs OR health care, we must make the decision for him. He can talk up his plan all he wants, on a daily basis if that's what he thinks it will take; we all know it doesn't come cheap and we can't afford it -- while it goes against every free market principle in the book.

 

What seems to be painfully clear now, is how long it may take for him to get that --

or get off the road, honk! honk!

 

 

Make it a Good Day, G