Political Math

I hope that you caught the President’s visit with the Republican House caucus on Friday. There is a clean, no interruptions, version on whitehouse.gov.

No teleprompter; he takes them on 1 to 140 and swats them like flies.

Fox news was so impressed with the house Republicans, that they interrupted their own coverage, and inserted Fox commentators, to talk-over a mesmerizing live television broadcast.

Meanwhile: on CNN — Atari brand dial meters, show that most Americans still cannot manipulate a hand held rheostat; on MSNBC -- Chris Matthews professes his undying love for the President; and on PBS -- David Brooks is still struggling with sticking to the Republican party line. Poor David; he has kids after all.

Predictably the Republicans declared victory, citing the President’s own admission that they have some ideas and that he even reads them over from time to time. Apparently they are delighted to be seen as the party with no math skills, instead of the party with no coherent positions.

Pundit John Stewart and his progressive friends just cannot figure out why Barack Obama is insisting on being so conciliatory — they are frustrated by Obama’s seemingly naïve, incessant pleas for bipartisanship.

Heath reform is dead we are told, since the Senate Republicans can prevent a successful vote of cloture. The balance of Obama’s initiatives are also doomed -- unless he concedes to the Republicans everything they want. This gridlock will continue until November when the political descendents of Newt Gingrich will rise again, and Republicans will be swept into office, en masse, by the voters’ collective disgust.

So, as you watch the video of the President taking questions from the house Republicans; you have to ask, “Why is this man smiling?”

The answer of course is poker: He’s already won. He just wants them to go ALL IN.

Filibusters don’t work. For the first two weeks of a filibuster, the country’s media is invigorated and sympathy builds for the lowly oppressed minority; then everyone eventually figures out that 59 is way more that 41. By the end it turns into a contest to see which Republican senator can go the longest without using the bathroom.

So, should we schedule the filibuster in the Spring or in the Fall right before the midterm elections?

And which Republican senator will at long last step up to the podium and end it all?

That’s easy: John McCain. American Hero.