BY SHEILA SAMPLES

“Oh, big conniver, nothing but a jiver, done got hip to your jive,

Slippin’ and a slidin’, peepin’ and a hidin’, won’t be your fool no more.” – Little Richard

Fear and despair are billowing across the U.S. political landscape, due in no small part to nearly three years of President Barack Obama’s soaring jive even as he was breaking promises to millions of jobless, homeless, helpless Americans.

Many of us watched, aghast, as Obama repeatedly took careful aim and shot himself in both feet; then, rather than deciding to fight on his knees, began scrambling around on them in a futile search for bipartisanship.

Ain’t gonna happen.

Those hoary old Republicans with whom he has strenuously attempted to bond have been around the political block more than once. Most are sexist; homophobic to the core, and racist from the core … on in. They’re absolutely committed to – obsessed with – not only Obama’s failure, but his complete destruction.

Obama should have learned by now there is no compromising with these filthy connivers – that every single one of them is hell-bent on his destruction even if the nation goes down with him.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, has brazenly bragged since Obama’s election that, “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”

They spent the first two years of his administration in an obsessive campaign to prove that not only was he [shudder] black – but he wasn’t even an American citizen. They continue to insanely double down on blocking every piece of legislation he suggests, no matter how minute; and delight in blaming him for the resulting chaos.

Indeed, Republicans hold Obama in such contempt [he’s black, remember? that they make no effort to hide their political goal.

Four days before Obama’s inauguration, radio jiver Rush Limbaugh was spewing hate across the airwaves, blatantly calling for Obama to fail. It was a call to arms. The response was immediate, and continues to pick up steam.

If anyone doubts that Limbaugh is the titular head of the Republican – or Grand Old Dittohead [GOD] – Party, they have but to recall his bouncy, drug-addled hour-and-a-half hate screed in 2009 to the Conservative Political Action Committee [CPAC]. Or calling Obama a “jackass” during his debt “compromise” speech … “He’s a jackass,” Limbaugh screeched. “He’s an economic illiterate. He’s an economic ignoramus. And that’s being charitable.”

No, you don’t have to wonder where their loyalties lie. When elevated to House Speaker, John Boehner, R-OH, briefed Boss Hog Limbaugh on his debt-ceiling plan before even showing it to his conference, let alone his president.

These creatures claim self-righteously that, ultimately, the horror they are inflicting on the people is for the people. The Stockholmed masses just need to hang on to hope – to understand that once the corrupt McConnell and his rapacious gang destroy the government prior to the election and blame it on Obama, things will get better. Much better.
Those on the right who fall for that crap are little more than frogs basking in the slowly increasing “warmth” of right-wing water.

Sadly, those of us on the left are in as bad – or worse – shape, if only because we realize we are in serious political trouble. Many of us have been stumbling around in an Orwellian fog for so long our hope tanks are dangerously close to running on empty.
Like Robert Reich wrote recently …

“President Obama will be supported by progressives and the Democratic base, but without enthusiasm. His notorious caves to Republicans and Wall Street – failing to put conditions on the Street’s bailout [such as demanding the Street help stranded home owners], or to resurrect Glass-Steagall, or include a public option in health care, or assert his constitutional responsibility to raise the debt limit, or protect Medicare and Social Security, or push for cap-and-trade, or close Guantanamo, or, in general, confront the regressive Republican nay-sayers and do-nothings with toughness rather than begin negotiations by giving them much of what they want – are not the stuff that stirs a passionate following.”

However, when Obama comes soaring in once again, slippin’ and slidin’, grinning from ear to ear, proudly claiming to be a “warrior” for the middle class, many will be unable to keep from hoping for hope – from ultimately voting for hope.

It’s not that they’ve forgotten the recent years of betrayal; of abandonment. It’s that, somehow, when considering the alternative – Obama’s campaign jive sounds better and better to them.
French novelist Jean Giraudoux once joked, “The secret to success is sincerity. Once you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” Well, if you look at those who are challenging Obama, you can’t help but hope he’s got it made. And that’s no joke.

Even with Sarah Palin, who was leading the pack, locked and loaded and firing away at Obama until she ran out of ammo and slipped and fell into a pool of “blood libel” – and Herman Cain, with five women accusing him of sexual harassment and a sixth of a 13-year affair – gone from the race, it’s still a shuddering mess. And it ain’t “fixable.”

Like C.S. Lewis once wrote, “No clever arrangement of bad eggs ever made a good omelet.”

From Perry poop to Gingrich garbage to Bachmann blather, the stench billowing from the Republican presidential wannabes is overwhelming. The entire gang appears disjointed – in total disarray – mired in ideological confusion. It’s impossible to come up with a single issue that this tangled mass can agree upon – other than running that black guy out of town.

If it weren’t so ghoulishly frightening, it would be amusing to watch the shallow, dumb-as-dirt little creatures shucking and jiving out there, racing madly from one media outlet to another in a desperate attempt to find a message that will catapult them to the top of the presidential heap. And what a heap it is.

Just a gang of thin-skinned, egocentric Charlie Sheenians who are interested in one thing – DUH – winnnning!

With few exceptions, they have proudly announced they are pro-torture; most are panting for war – have promised to attack Iran before the sun sets on their inauguration. Think about it. Because, as Robert Parry succinctly points out, the “hard reality” is …

“Even if the two candidates’ policies were identical, temperament would also be important, since the U.S. president controls a nuclear arsenal that can literally end all life on the planet.”

It is possible – even probable – due to the masturbatory media coverage this bunch is getting, that one of this hopeless legion of loons will kick back from their crack buffet and emerge with the keys to the White House in one hand and a jug of tiger blood in the other.

If we have learned but one thing from these fools, it is that they will not compromise, regardless of the destruction they leave in their wake. Therefore, we need to wake up and realize that the November 2012 election is quite likely a matter of life or death.

– Sheila Samples is an Oklahoma writer and a former civilian U.S. Army Public Information Officer. She is a Senior OpEd News editor and a regular contributor for a variety of Internet sites. Her work also appears in The Observer – her latest on the cover of our annual holiday double edition [Dec. 10/25].