Obama eliminated from contention

... for my endorsement and support, that is.

I've never been much for Barack Obama anyway, feeling that (1) he's too inexperienced in politics to run an effective campaign, let alone serve as president, and (2) he has too much of the "let's all just get along" mentality, as evidenced by his reaching out pandering to Christianists and his utter inability to come out forcefully and decisively against the war in Iraq. (It would help if he could find his way to D.C. to actually cast votes that matter -- if Chris Dodd can do it, Barack Obama can, too.)

But Sen. Obama (D-Ill.) settled the matter for me today, with his asinine statement that not only would he consider placing Republicans on his cabinet if elected, one of those Republicans might be California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Obama regularly says he would look to Republicans to fill out his cabinet if he was elected, but at a town hall event in Manchester, N.H., he was pushed to name names.

“It’s premature for me to start announcing my cabinet. I mean, I’m pretty confident. but I’m not all that confident. We still got a long way to go,” Obama said.

But then the GOP names started to flow.

Among those names: Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Kan.), and Schwarzenegger.

Serious question here: how many Republicans would countenance a Democrat on their cabinet if they became president? I'll tell you how many: zero. And Drunky McStagger naming nominal Democrat Norm Mineta (D-Calif.) Secretary of Transportation doesn't count. Besides, that was seven years ago.

This is no longer a country where the Democrats can play the appeasement game and expect to accomplish anything at all. Yes, I hate the divisiveness and rancor, but unless and until the Republicans revert* to something resembling decency and humanity, the only way to win is to fight fire with fire. So far, the Democrats in Washington are showing precious little fire ... and Obama's declaration goes in precisely the wrong direction. And that is unacceptable.

I'm frequently reminded of a Rush Limbaugh broadcast I heard shortly after the election debacle of 2000 (back when I could stand to listen to that drug-addled blowhard). As we all know, Drunky McStagger earned a minority of the popular vote and electoral vote that year, yet still became president. Naturally, based on my own knowledge of political history (my college major and teaching subject), I presumed that Drunky would have to govern very much in the center, trying to win coalitions of supporters and reaching across the aisle to accomplish his legislative objectives. Rush, however, basically advocated political thermonuclear war, saying that Drunky (okay, he didn't call him that) should govern like he won a landslide -- an overwhelming mandate (I specifically remember Rush using that word) -- and run roughshod over the Democrats. "Nonsense," thought I. "No one in his right mind would behave that way as president."

Well, of course, you know the rest of the story. Rush and I were both right, as it turned out. Drunky governed like he won a landslide victory, and he's clearly not in his right mind.

The point I'm obliquely trying to make is that whoever wins the presidency in 2008 (and it most certainly will be the Democratic candidate -- I'll make that call right now) shouldn't give an inch to the Republicans. Especially with a stronger congressional majority, it's well past time to appease and be friends and reach out. We need to accomplish a progressive legislative agenda and begin the process of recovering from eight destructive years under the Bush crime syndicate. Putting Republicans in positions of leadership in an effort to be "bipartisan" is a horrible idea -- if they didn't do that for us, why should we give them the satisfaction of yet another victory?

So, Sen. Obama, I'm happy that you're running and thrilled that our country has progressed to the point where a person of color can be taken seriously as a candidate for the presidential nomination of a major party. But, I'm sorry, I won't be able to support you. In my opinion, there is just too much at stake to give the Republicans even an inch. Because if you do, experience shows that they won't just take a mile. They'll take a fucking light-year.

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* "Revert," of course, suggests that Republicans at one time actually had the characteristics of decency and humanity. Reasonable minds may differ on this, but I do believe that, prior to the era of Nixon and, later, Reagan, they were -- with some notable exceptions -- generally decent and honorable. And if you don't agree, at least assume that for the sake of my argument, okay? Thanks in advance.