I know you are probably getting tons of advice from all corners about what you should do now in the aftermath of the upset election of Scott Brown, a Republican, as a senator in the bluest of states, Massachusetts.
You, and we, are hearing from the punditocracy that it was a repudiation of your overreaching agenda, of health care reform and of all those other "ultra-liberal" causes you've espoused since being sworn in exactly a year ago.
Democrats are indulging in paroxysms of hand wringing (the Chicken Little thing), while Republicans are ecstatic beyond belief (What me worry?). Meanwhile, the country is waiting to see what you're going to do.
Here, sir, is my advice: Take off the gloves.
Let us see what you really believe in instead of leaving us to fathom what it is that we think you believe in. And when you've shown us what you believe in—then fight for it.
Enough with the bipartisanship already! If it isn't obvious by now that you're not going to get any support from across the aisle—for pretty much anything—then something is wrong with your receptor. We know you have the fire in the belly and know how to fight. You overcame long odds to become president after all.
But because you haven't really fought for anything all out since taking office, and have mainly given half-hearted support to your initiatives, the opposition has been able to get away with its unending chorus of "No!"
Case in point: Health care reform. I'll be damned if I know—and I cover it!—where you stand on the issue. And that's the problem, sir. For someone so articulate, you have a way of fuzzying up, if not hiding altogether, what your goals are and what it is you really want to accomplish.
