Friday, March 13, 2009 | 2:03 a.m.
Allan Tucker’s Saturday letter to the editor, headlined “GOP should follow or get out of the way,” ends with a request for Republicans who don’t agree with President Barack Obama to “please leave.”
The idea that this mess is exclusively due to either President George W. Bush or a Republican Congress is pure malarkey. The Republicans certainly contributed their share to the problem by spending as if they were Democrats, while the Democrats continued to do what they do best, hurl vicious personal criticisms at President Bush while offering little or nothing in the way of constructive alternatives.
It also should be noted that this mess has been piling up for some time, but it wasn’t until the Democrats took control of Congress, after the 2006 elections, that our economy really began its free fall.
Those of us who belong to the Republican Party will not blindly follow President Obama like lemmings over a cliff. When the president and the Democratic Congress actually propose programs and policies that are based upon sound reasoning — instead of reasoning that just sounds good, and when more than mere lip service is given to Republican ideas — President Obama will have the support and constructive input of many Republicans.
But when Republicans are told by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic Party leaders (as we were in the debate about the alleged economic stimulus bill) that they won, so the Democrats get to write the bill, we aren’t going to be very enthusiastic or forthcoming with our ideas or our support.
We’re not just going to go along for the ride so President Obama can claim his economic stimulus bill (or any other bill) was a bipartisan effort. Bipartisanship implies a two-way street, and it takes more than inviting Republican politicians to the White House for cocktails.
No, Mr. Tucker, we aren’t going to follow or leave. Republicans care too much about America to abandon her during this or any other crisis.
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