Negotiating with Terrorists

We’ve heard it in movies and stated as a standard policy of our great nation, “The United States does not negotiate with Terrorists.” It’s a good policy, and there’s good reasoning behind it. You can’t trust a terrorist to do what they say. Their motives are murky at best and diabolically evil at worst. You can pretty much know that if they ask for money and get it, they are going to kill the hostages anyway. Who knows, they might even torch the money while they’re at it just because some voice in their head told them to. You can’t negotiate with terrorists because they are crazy.

President Obama has broken this long-standing policy by negotiating with terrorists (and by “terrorists,” I mean John Boehner and the House Republicans who are holding our nation hostage).

During the recent, excruciatingly frustrating Debt Ceiling issue, Obama started out saying that he wanted the Bush tax cuts stopped for the country’s top income earners. He also agreed that we needed massive cuts and wanted a FOUR TRILLION Dollar package that would make a serious dent in our current debt situation. He offered up traditionally Democrat protected programs like Social Security and Medicare as part of the package, stating that nothing would be left off the table.

When the Right Wingers and Tea Partiers screamed about raising taxes on the sacred “job creators” in our nation, Obama did not fire back with the obvious response of “Where are the jobs then?” He instead fought a media war without using ammunition. He talked about “eating our peas” and the need for “compromise.”

Eventually, Obama gave in to the terrorists and has dropped the tax proposal that would have caused the rich to pay a little more, but leaving all the cuts in social programming and benefits to average Americans. The terrorists have gotten what they asked for.

Unfortunately, Obama must have forgotten that he was dealing with terrorists…so guess what? They aren’t accepting “here is what you wanted” for an answer.

Despite a Democratic budget plan that cuts more than the plan they themselves have offered, Boehner and most of the House Republicans have said that they won’t be satisfied unless we re-hash this entire, stupidly pointless debate again next Spring. Why? Because they hope to disrupt the election campaign process and do everything they can to get Obama out of office. (They needn’t worry. By negotiating with terrorists instead of standing up for the rights of the people who elected him, he is probably taking care of his re-election potential all by himself).

Don’t forget, these are the same people who said last year that their primary goal during their term was to make sure Obama did not get re-elected. Forget all our other problems. Forget unemployment, two wars, an infrastructure in decay, growing national debt, etc. None of that mattered in contrast to getting Obama out of office. Sadly, they didn’t even keep that kind of talk in the back rooms. They said it on national television, knowing that there are plenty of people out there who will nod their heads and agree with them. I weep for our future.