Hello? Harry Reid? Rahm Emmanuel? Barack Obama?
I won't flatter myself into thinking that you're actually reading this, but your messaging is tone-deaf and you appear to have all the instincts of political ostriches these days, so somebody has to lay it out in clear language.
I'll be blunt. I couldn't give half a crap about your 60th vote. I care about 50-50 plus Joe Biden, if that's what it takes to get decent legislation passed. If Republicans and conservative Democrats want to filibuster good healthcare legislation, so be it. Let them explain themselves to the American people.
Let them explain why a public option that works for veterans and people over 65 can't work for everybody else.
Let them explain why all those people between 55 and 64 years old just saw the door slam shut thanks to one Senator from Connecticut.
Let them explain why they are voting against the interests of their voters and constituents.
Let them explain their lobbyist ties.
Let them explain why they are wasting time speaking on the Senate floor while people die.
Let them explain why people will be fined $750 a year if they don't pay off a private insurance company offering shitty coverage.
Let them explain why 41 Senators have the right to thwart the wishes of the majority.
* * * * * * *Republicans have gotten a free ride the last six months, and it's time for this shit to stop.
Call their bluff. Don't cede the political high ground. Make them argue that the status quo is acceptible. Let them show the American people what they really are- obstructionists standing in the way of progress.
The progressives in this party did not spend the last 14 years in the poltical wilderness just to be stabbed in the back by the likes of Joe Lieberman and Rahm Emmanuel. This is life and death, and people are dying.
Mr. President, you live in Washington, D.C. surrounded by power and money while homeless people starve and freeze in the streets of the cities around this country and millions go without healthcare.
You have exactly one chance to get this right. People will get together with their families in the next few weeks, talk politics, and make judgments about who deserves to govern the country next year. Get your troops in line and tell them to make a stand. Let the Republicans show their true colors. Otherwise you will have squandered the opportunity you have been given.
I still want to hope, Mr. Obama. I still want to hope. But my patience is running thin.