Democrats: Surfs Up

The tsunami of GOP and Tea is still flooding our country. The choices seem to be ride this wave and succumb to fear-mongering and blaming the most vulnerable among us for the corporate theft of our nation’s dignity, or drown. 

Or is there a Third Way?

Take it from a Rhode Islander now living in Maine - when a big breaker is coming at you, dive under it! Come up on the other side and catch your breath. Get ready to take the next white horse for a ride.

The backside of the 2010 election wave looks like a Saturday Night Live version of Messrs. Smith Goes to Washington. An army of wide-eyed GOP freshmen marching in to the capital, flag pins prominently displayed and pocket constitutions in tact, ready to repeal healthcare reform and the deficit, and “take our country back.” 

Just how far back are we going to let them take us before we snap out of it and take credit for the good work that has been done on our watch? We reduced taxes for the middle class! We saved an American car company and increased jobs!  For God sakes, we brought most of our kids home from Iraq and put them on our health insurance plans.

Democrats, we are down but we are not out. We just need to keep working hard to help ordinary people, and brag more. We need some attitude.

The number of new jobs created during the eight years of the Clinton administration was 23 million, and the number of new jobs created during the eight years of the Bush administration was 3 million.  The difference is more than just an old-fashioned math problem. Since Obama came to office the hemorrhaging of jobs that occurred on W’s watch began to decrease, and now jobs are being created. This is so totally radical, right? Why aren’t we screaming from the rafters?

The biggest middle class tax cut in U.S. history was the largest single component of the stimulus bill recently passed by Democrats, accounting for $300 billion of the $800 billion total. Right on, Blue Dudes!

If you had invested $100,000 in the stock market on the day Barack Obama was sworn in, it would be worth around $180,000 today. $100,000 invested the day George W. Bush took office was worth $65,000 eight years later. That’s, like, gnarly.

Republicans right now have a success problem of their own. They have a bunch of know-it-alls with sights on the 2012 coronation and now this pesky little thing called “governing,” is in their lap. 

This is our chance. Right now we must begin writing the rest of the real story. With attitude!