The Compass is Broken.......

.....and the Ship of State is foundering. The navigators--CONGRESS, have become
intoxicated with power, and have lost their way. They are no longer steering
the ship in the direction of the good of the nation, but in the selfish interests of their re-election (at any cost to you and me), and at the behests of the pay-masters
who purchased them.
Obama's State of the Union address was reasoned, broad in scope and narrow in partisan bile. He outlined the many serious problems facing the nation and set
sensible priorities for tackling them. He asked for all congressmen to face up
to the tasks for which they were hired, for the benefit of all citizens, not the privileged few. The Republicans sat stone faced, with only occassional flacid applause for further tax reductions (at a time of enormous deficits and two off-budget wars).

Obama admitted some errors in strategy and priorities during the first year of his
tenure, not for as many as there were. In the interest of bipartisan solutions, he
frittered away the substantial Democrat majority with which he was elected. He spent
too much time and effort catering to Republican's desire to hold on to the past
policies, which the electorate had roundly rejected. He attempted too many changes
in major areas at the same time, and he relied on an impotent Congress to formulate legislation for which they had little courage or enthusiasm.

He is setting a revised agenda. A massive jobs program is first. Repairing a corrupt and biased financial system goes hand in hand. Then going back to Pay-as-You-go budgeting. Spending freezes, and deficit reduction demand attention. Those
will require elimination of the tax reductions for the very wealthy, and for corporations which send our jobs abroad. Health insurance reform is a powerful
instrument to control the unrestrained increases in the cost of providing health care. By eliminating the uncompensated care which masses of uninsureds impose on
the health care providers we eliminate the bloating of premiums for the insureds.

If the Republicans persist in a strategy to destroy the Obama Presidency, and offer
no positive solutions that will address the problems of the many, and the Democrats run scared, as a nation without a compass we will witness a
continuing decline into third world status. The American dream will become a nightmare for the middle class.