Happy New Year! Think on this:

If there's one thing that we should be talking about and reading about in our newspapers and listening to on the radio  or seeing on TV, but mostly we are NOT, it's the Republican Party's total disregard for the needs of the citizens of this country.  Today's edition of the Huffington Post has this article by writer and filmmaker Mitchell Bard: The Republicans' Disdain for the American People Should Be the Story of 2009
The article begins:

Looking back on 2009, much of the discussion on TV news shows is whether President Obama and the Democrats in Congress correctly handled the problems facing the country. Somehow, a narrative seems to have emerged that the Democrats failed and would pay the price in the 2010 midterm elections.

But where is the discussion of how the Republicans have behaved in the last year?

Bard continues:

It has been less than one year since President Obama was sworn in. When he sat behind the big desk in the Oval Office for the first time, he found himself responsible for a free-falling economy (and mounting staggering job losses), a massive deficit, the manpower and financial burden of hundreds of thousands of troops in Iraq, a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, and a militant Islamic movement looking to inflict damage on America and American interests, all of which came as a direct result of the failed policies of his predecessor. Obama also had a host of other problems to address, from global warming to energy dependence to a corrupt and dangerous Iranian government struggling to hold onto power and capable of real danger, just to name a few.

The president didn't create any of these problems. Not one of them. And it is completely unrealistic to think that any person or party could solve these issues in less than a year.

Nobody can argue that the words and actions of the Democratic Party and the Obama administration have been perfect,

But another way to put it is that the criticism form the right is not only unfounded, but the Republicans have offered no real alternatives to address the issues, aside from advocating for the failed Bush policies of the last decade. And progressives seem to forget that the arcane rules in the Senate limit what can be done with only a majority, while Republicans in Congress are single-minded and united to do anything they can to politically damage the president, without any concern for actually governing for the American people. We saw that in play in the health care debate, as the 40 Republican senators remained rock solid in support of the insurance companies and the status quo (the current system is a disaster, as health care costs chew up more and more of the country's GDP while leaving Americans with more and more health care expenses and less and less coverage).

What have the Republicans offered aside from "no"?

Bard then lists eight Republican maneuvers from just the past two weeks, including holding up funding of our troops and the various lies (Sen. Thune on the floor of the Senate and Palin and her death panel whopper everywhere).

Republicans have had one goal since the Inauguration, and that's making President Obama fail. They're hoping the voters will be so swayed by their lies and obstructions that they'll turn back to the good old days of Bush-Cheney wreckage of our economy and reputation.