Mad Dog is not a political scientist, nor a journalist, nor well connected, but he has a political thought, unsolicited, but offered for free.
It seems to Mad Dog the only times Republicans seem to really wail and gnash their teeth is when Mr. Obama leaves Washington and speaks in the Republican back yard.
During the campaign, Mr. Obama went to a bridge between Mr. Mitchell's state of Kentucky and Mr. Boehner's state of Ohio, a bridge which became a symbol for the deterioration of American infrastructure, a bridge which is creaking and groaning and which is now so inadequate lines of trucks carrying goods from Michigan to New Orleans back up for miles and vital commerce, goods and business from the upper Midwest to the South and back again wither on the vine. So Mr. Obama goes to this bridge and says if only Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Boehner would get out of the way and stop obstructing efforts by the government to widen and repair this bridge, both Ohio and Kentucky would benefit, as would the entire economy of the middle of the country.
That really seemed to shake Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Boehner. They must have heard from their own locals.
When Mr. Obama gets on the road and talks about gun control to people in Detroit and Chicago, in Arizona and Virginia, his supporters rally and is it not possible, that scares his opponents?
The trouble with urging Mr. Obama to travel around the country to engage real people, who then shout at their own Congressmen, is getting Mr. Obama out among the people puts him at risk for physical harm. If he could be whisked in for lightning strikes and then whisked out again before the local lunatics with guns can react, this might be a technique to bring the rabid Right to heel.
If the most effective antiseptic is sunshine, then putting Mr. Obama's own radiant star shine out there, pushing for the big issues--gun control, Supreme Court reform, economic stimulation, immigration reform--might be the best hope for moving these things forward.
The President will give his State of the Union address next Tuesday. Mad Dog urges you to look around that room at the assembled Senators and Congressmen. When you see the faces of the Congress, you will understand why Mr. Obama is wasting his time in Washington.
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