Lucy Will Never Play Nice

A minority of eligible voters -- too many of them of the low-information variety -- have, in their infinite lack of wisdom, just traded economic recovery, social progress and cool, calm foreign policy for voo-doo trickle-down economics, neo-Puritanism, raging Tea Baggers, and knee-jerk sabre-rattling.  Thank you so much.

Feeling all spunky, the GOP is issuing "warnings" to President Obama that the election was a clear signal that the public wants both sides to work together.  This message is coming from the same McTurtle and Boner who spent the past six years doing everything they could to do as little as possible.  They dawdled, obstructed, filibustered, and even shut down the government.  But now they want to play nice and fair.

It's bullshit, of course.  There is no path to bipartisanship with these SOB's.  Their idea of fair is getting everything they want.  They will never play nice.  They're like Lucy -- no matter what she says, she always yanks the football away at the last second.  And she always will.

The next two years will be hard to take, but there are still some things that Obama and the lame-duck Senate can do and should do.  Make that must do, by any means possible, including Executive Orders:

• In the next couple months, before this Congress ends, confirm as many federal judges as you can.
• Don't agree to any cuts in Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid.  Tell Paul Ryan to stuff it!
• Don't cave in on EPA power plant emissions rules.  Coal is a dirty 19th century fuel, and its days are numbered, even though the GOP pretends otherwise. 
• Reject the Keystone XL pipeline.  If our society is ever to get serious about climate change and reducing fossil fuels, we have to start somewhere, sometime.  Let Keystone XL be our line in the sand.  Let's have a policy presumption that cleaner is better.
• Put a freeze on further deportations until Congress passes comprehensive immigration reform.
• Don't send ground forces to Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, etc.  That part of the world is just a black hole.
• Fight back against the war on women taking place at the state level.  Defend women's rights with everything you've got.  Fight for equal pay and workplace protection, and restore ready access to contraception and abortion services.
• Tell your FCC chief Tom Wheeler that you expect him to make Net Neutrality the law of the land.  Fire his ass if you need to.
• Use the FEC to fight back against voter suppression legislation occurring in so many states.

You just can't play ball with some people, so don't buy the lie.  We know the Republicans are Lucy and we know she never plays nice.  She'll pull the football again.  This time, let's not even bother with the ball.  Instead, let's kick Lucy.