Republicans are counting on the country to fail...

[kentuck]

So they can blame it on Obama and the Democrats and regain power. They feel no need to offer any productive solutions to the problems that their policies have created. They are dependent upon the people forgetting their recent history.

They hope we go into a depression. They hope unemployment goes above 10%. They hope we are attacked again by the terrorists. That will all prove that they are better than the Democrats at governing our country. They are betting all their marbles on that.

Will they lose their marbles? Some folks suggest that they already have lost their marbles. In their present structure, they are a poor excuse for a major political Party. Smaller government, lower taxes, and Ronald Reagan is their mantra. They have failed on all counts.

But in the election of 2010, will they make a comeback because the Democrats were unable to clean up their mess in such a short time? Possibly? However, the voters are much more savvy now than in 2000 and 2004. If we fail, the Republicans do not get a free pass. The sooner they could realize that, the better for all of us...

[BlooInBloo]

1. Indeed, lots of people who don't like Obama are hoping for him to fail.

[Deja Q]

2. They're a bunch of wankers.

They blame Obama for socialism this and communist that (er, okay...) and think nothing is wrong with free trade yet wonder why businesses are closing... uh, duh...

[knixphan]

6. 2x

:fistbump:

[Kip Humphrey]

3. Wonder where their patriotism went?

REPUBLICONS: The REAL Swine Flu.

[Peacetrain]

4. I think, they think, that is their only hope.. sad isn't it

[Triana]

5. There is no more precise spelling of N A R C I S S I S T ...

...than this one:

R E P U B L I C A N

It's ALL about THEM, dontchaknow.

[L0oniX]

7. I absolutely despise them and I let them know it in person to their face.

I charge them more for my services. I won't be friends with them even if they are family.

[Pale Blue Dot]

8. I agree with the title of your post. I have problems with the rest.

Absolutely, the Republicans are counting on Obama to fail; that is the only strategy that they have left. They are morally and ideologically bankrupt, and nothing that THEY would say or do would pull us out of this mess.

And yet I think their strategy will work. Why?

If you follow the economic numbers closely, as I do, then you know that the ONLY thing that's improving about this economy is people's perceptions of it. Every other major number is still in a steep decline (although thanks to the stimulus bill, the decline is slightly less steep than it had been). In other words, Americans now have confidence that the economy is getting better, despite all evidence that it is, in fact, continuing to get worse. Obama has done what he does best: given people hope.

However, what happens a month, two months, or six months from now when people suddenly realize that things are NOT getting better? Obama, in America's eyes, is getting the credit for turning our fortunes around (again, based on nothing). He will surely, therefore, get the blame when people realize they've been duped.

Will it be entirely his fault? Of course not. He inherited a mess & thirty years of horrible economic policies. Any student of history, however, will tell you that none of that matters. HE will get the blame. Republicans will step in to be the White Knight, and they will be able to say: we opposed Obama's policies, they didn't work, and we were right.

History is littered with examples of countries that have gone to the far right when their economies have tanked, and based on the past thirty years, there is no reason to believe that that can't happen here.

That's one of the reasons that myself and others have fought so hard against the stimulus and the bank bailouts: they will only make things worse in the long run. That's one of the reasons that myself and others cringed when Obama and his advisors went on national television and said that it was "time to buy stocks" and that all we really needed now was "confidence": both of those statements are demonstrably false, yet both have succeeded in creating the false impression that Obama has fixed the economy. He has not.

Many of you won't believe what I'm saying, and many will be angered by it. To them I say, as always: bookmark this thread. Please feel free to throw it back in my face a year from now. I'd be happy to be wrong - but I don't think I am. Obama and his economic team have given the Republicans they only sign of life that they have, and I, for one, am terrified.

[kentuck]

9. As was noted...

"But in the election of 2010, will they make a comeback because the Democrats were unable to clean up their mess in such a short time?"

I think you are correct in that the economy is going to get worse before it gets better. Democrats, rather than buying into this propaganda that the economy will be better by this fall or early next year, should be making the case that this is going to take much longer to clean up than anyone imagined.

[Pale Blue Dot]

12. I agree totally.

We also need to stop the bailouts.

[kentuck]

13. I cannot read President Obama's mind but...

In my opinion, he is smart enough to realize that he cannot snap his fingers and nationalize the banks in any manner. He is waiting for a consensus to develop that certain banks are beyond saving. This may take a few more months. At present, they are ready to ask for another $150 billion dollars, on top of what they have already received. That cannot go on much longer. I believe the President understands that. However, it takes the patience of Job to wait for consensus. He has shown a great deal of patience thus far. In the end, I think several banks will be taken into receivership and sold off in parts by the government. We are far from out of the woods on this bank crisis.

[OHDEM]

10. I think it's deeper than that.

They don't just want the gov't to fail because Dems are in charge. They want gov't to fail in general.

It's like the Bill Maher joke "The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work
and then they get elected and prove it. "

They believe that their job when they're in government is to dismantle it, give tax breaks to their rich donors, give contracts to their friends and destroy any and all social safety nets.

[Turbineguy]

11. Makes sense

saves them work. It's easier to run a fucked up country in a fucked up way if somebody else has fucked it up for you!

[givemebackmycountry]

14. They hope --- I hope ---

They hope we go into a depression. They hope unemployment goes above 10%. They hope we are attacked again by the terrorists.

I hope they don't do anything crazy to help or to make the last one actually happen.

[stuntcat]

15. it's the only thing that would prove them right

They have been SO WRONG.. so extremely, morally, hopelessly wrong and somewhere inside they sense the evilness and greed of their narrow ways. They can't acknowledge it, and they don't have to as long as they can pretend the US is headed for Hell.