Time To Purge McConnell, World Needs A Universal Parent, King Abdullah Is Dying

Eugene Robinson
Desmond Tutu and Jimmy Carter
Dana Milbank

"A new survey finds that although his approval ratings are low, President Obama is still ahead of the most prominent Republicans. Have you seen his tax plan? He is the most prominent Republican." – Jay Leno

"The House has voted to repeal the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy. Nancy Pelosi said, 'Now's the time to act,' meaning before Democrats lose their majority in a couple of weeks. Which raises the question: Why didn't they act the last four years when they had the majority?" – Jay Leno

"According to a new Rasmussen poll, only 23 percent say America is heading in the right direction. In Mexico, it's different. There, 77 percent say the right direction is heading to America." – Jay Leno

Despite the best whining and complaints from the Mitch Connollites, the START treaty was ratified, and President Obama officially signed the repeal of DADT. All in all, Obama has had a pretty good couple of years, despite the constant belittling and negativity spread by the Republican Congressional leadership. As Dana Milbank notices: "Petulant leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) spelled out the real reason on the Senate floor Monday. McConnell, who said Republicans' "single most important" goal was Obama's defeat, said that in this case he didn't want to facilitate "some politician's desire to declare a political victory and host a press conference before the first of the year."

Personally, I don't see why the Repubs put up with the narrow-minded focus of Mitch McConnell and John Boehner. Just because you are at the top of the seniority list doesn't make you an effective leader, and these two have done nothing but piss off older Republicans who disagree with their tactics. Let's face it, McConnell and Boehner are one-trick ponies without the intellectual capacity to focus one more than one item at a time. Ok, they're dumb-asses, and those who allow themselves to be coerced into following them for the sake of unity, are going to feel pretty silly that they didn't stand up for themselves when the new crop of Congressmen come in next session. I think that there will be more haggling and in-fighting among Republicans than with the Democrats, and the next two years Congress will be brought to a standstill. So, it's a good thing that Obama had a majority of his agenda passed, he can spend the next two years fine-tuning the implementation, as well as enforcing the good regulations now in place in banking and financial sectors. Unfortunately, McConnell has one or two more obstructionist tricks up his sleeve, which promises to make Congress an even more uglier place. Too bad we can't send him back home to Kentucky tarred and feathered... As Mitch himself says: "If they think it's bad now, wait 'til next year..."

The more that I see our leaders acting like petulant little boys, the more I think we need some kind of Universal Parent that's allowed to jump in and stop them from throwing tantrums. The closest we have seems to be Oprah,who is pretty, classy, and comfortable enough to confront world leaders; I want someone who can grab Laurent Gbagbo by the ear and make him sit down facing the corner until he can come out and act more politely, or at least accept defeat from the last election... I want someone who can barge in on Kim Jong-Il and read him the riot act while whipping up a meal of fried chicken and garlic mashed potatoes, because maybe his diet is causing his emotional instability, crazy from too much cold rice and kimchee during the winter... Most of all, I want someone who can take Benjamin Netanyahu, Mahmoud Abbas, and their teams of negotiators, and lock them in a room, not let them out until all of the details for a Palestinian state have been hammered out... A UN Ambassador at large, She Who Must Be Listened To... because, Lord knows, the dirty little boys have long made a mess out of things, more than this planet can bounce back from, worse than any predictions from Nostradamus can portray...

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is dying. He is 87, and just had two spinal surgeries. In these kinds of cases involving elderly folks, the anesthesia can often be more deleterious and fatal than the surgery itself. The royal family has erected a cone of silence about the king, which also doesn't bode well. The blockage of all health information will continue until they have worked out who will succeed him and all funeral plans are in place. I hope I am wrong, because the King was a moderate force in an often extreme part of the world, and none of those next in line share his same moderate views.

The current balance of power in the Middle East will be shaken, especially if another ruler who is in his 80's, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, also passes. These are eventualities that Iran is already making plans to taking advantage of, giving themselves and the Shiite communities in Saudi Arabia and Egypt more clout. Their ultimate goal is for Iran to be a major player in the region, and the Shia world-view to be dominant. If they can influence Egyptian policy enough to have them change their attitudes towards Israel, then we will see more than a few Hizbollah-backed SCUD missiles being fired from Gaza, and definite major movements in munitions being dug out of the desert sands and dusted off...

Of course, right now Iran is having some minor problems in making their own gasoline. Before sanctions, it was cheaper to buy it back. Unfortunately, as you can see from this picture, they are making gasoline full of particulants, causing the worst two months of smog, that has put many in the hospital and caused all kinds of irritation and sinus and lung infections. We thought that the Green Revolution was going to rise up and cause regime change. It actually might happen because the government is poisoning off the residents of Tehran, and they aren't going to take it anymore, that is, if they can see more than 3 feet in front of their eyes... the movie Blade Runner may have to go back and change the setting of the film to Tehran instead of Los Angeles...