Republicans need to put country first

Robert Blanner, North Las Vegas

Thursday, April 29, 2010 | 2:03 a.m.

When will the GOP (Grand Obstructionist Party) begin to put “country first” and put on the back burner its attempts to make President Barack Obama look bad? Not only is this effort getting old, but it simply is not working.

Time and again a Democratic proposal is presented and time and again Republicans unanimously try to block it.

The most recent example is bringing a financial reform bill to the floor of the Senate for discussion. Need for financial reform is obvious in light of the recent meltdown on Wall Street and the manipulations by Goldman Sachs that are being questioned in Senate hearings this week.

A financial reform bill has been developed over the past several months and is ready for debate. Although Republicans on Wednesday evening signaled they would reverse course, they had throughout the week voted unanimously to block even a discussion of the proposed bill. Mind you, they were not voting against the bill. They were voting against talking about the bill.

Voters’ patience is wearing thin and this well-crafted strategy of “just say no” to anything Obama or Democrats propose is going to backfire. It’s time to think “country first” and party next.