OBAMAHEAD, a rose by any other name…

Dear Obamahead,

Would you have a problem if Obama changed political parties?
Judging from his actions, it seems he would be much happier as a Republican, which is reason enough for you to encourage him to switch parties. Best of all, he’d still be Obama – your darling Obama – and doesn’t a rose by any other name smell just as sweet?

Understandably you detest and despise Republicans.
But you should accept the fact that your man, your hero, does not feel the same way you do about it. He has made no secret of this from his frequent praise of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher to the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum where he described the man most Democrats despise as: “to know him is to like him.” Most Americans feel the complete opposite way about George W. Bush; that is to say, the more we find out about him the less we like him.

One clear sign of his yearning for Republican approbation is how he reacts to the Republicans who hate him. Some Republicans have refused to dine with him. Some have boycotted his calls for a meeting. Some have called him an out-and-out liar in public. Some have refused to be seen shaking his hand or to be photographed at his side. None of this deters him.
He just continues to work for their approval. For their friendship.

For example, he placed Social Security – a program he knows Republicans all hate, which has absolutely nothing to do with deficit reduction, and that most Americans need – on the chopping block before the bargaining for the so-called Grand Deal even began.

But even this betrayal of one of the most important and successful social programs ever created by the Democrats failed to gain him any truck with Republicans.

But to his credit, your hero is not a quitter.

Being a practical man, he decided to take the courtship of Republicans to still another level. He would change how he speaks.
He would learn Republican-Speak.

Recently he got an ideal opportunity to practice Republican-Speak.
At a press conference in the Rose Garden when he was asked about his Justice Department’s secret recording and storing of phone calls and phone numbers of Associated Press Reporters, without obtaining a warrant (which is unconstitutional), he said: “I make no apologies.”

That was very Republican. Republicans never apologize. Look at the war in Iraq, the one that took hundreds of thousands of lives and ruined an entire civilization (as well as the American economy) in a vain and fruitless search for weapons of mass destruction. Did the Republicans apologize? No. Bush said that he is proud of his decisions.

Then Obama went further: “and I don’t think the American people would expect me as commander in chief, not to be concerned about information that could compromise their missions or might get them killed.”

Republican-Speak translation: Worrying about the Fourth Amendment – which is on the books to protect Americans from unreasonable search and seizure, and requires that even presidents get warrants – is anathema. That is to say, unlike Progressives, whom Obama once described as “sanctimonious,” he worries about America.

He also reminded everyone that he is “commander in chief.”
This is an old Republican trick. He is saying that patriots don’t question their commanders in chief. Republican-Speak etiquette demands that commanders in chief NEVER explain anything. Bush never explained anything. He gave very few press conferences. Obama learned from this. He has given even fewer press conferences than Bush.

Since you support Obama right or wrong, you should join Obamaheads everywhere in encouraging him to switch political parties

You should consider how much easier life would be for him, if he were Republican. He wouldn’t have to make any more promises that he had no intention of keeping. He could build even more nuclear plants, extend even more gas lines, and subsidize fracking everywhere without worrying about environmentalists. Whistle blowers could still be arrested as traitors, tortured, and imprisoned indefinitely “for their own good” without guilt.

Best of all, in the name of national security, he could join Republicans in ignoring all the amendments to the constitution except two: the one that says Corporations are people, and the one that says yes, five year olds have the right to carry weapons of mass destruction to school.

He could lie like a Republican. He could bully like a Republican.
He could steal from the poor and the middle class to give to the rich like a Republican. He could continue to wage war anywhere in the world with only a nod of his head, without congressional approval, without the support of the American people whose blood he would spill, and treasure he would spend , because … he wants to.
In other words, instead of being a fake Democrat, he could be a real Republican.

And Obamaheads would still love him.
Love is blind.