Comment on: "The Fighter Fallacy", by David Brooks

see
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/opinion/brooks-the-fighter-fallacy.html?_r=1&ref=global-home
for the Brooks opinion piece.

I have read a lot of lame arguments from Mr. Brooks in favor of the Republicans -- even though he often espouses positions which are diametrically opposed to the harsh stands of the GOP.

Government, which the people don't trust, is not just the President and the executive, it includes Congress, and especially the House. Poll after poll shows that the public distrusts the Congress even more than the President.

Candidate Obama did indeed run as the \"Great Compromiser\", promising to get things done in a bi-partisan way. This ran right smack into the Republican dogma of \"the highest priority is to make Obama fail\" -- and to hell with the needs of the American people. Nothing has changed in the attitude of the GOP. To suggest now that Obama should campaign for second term on what you call the \"Grand Bargain\" is completely ludicrous.

I will go out on a limb and predict that Obama will win reelection, especially if he takes the \"hard line\" and uses the campaign to point out the intransigence of the Republicans. The GOP is the protector of the privileges of the 1% against the needs of the 99%. The notion that taxing those making over $1 million more in line with historical averages will hurt job creation is ludicrous. And, most importantly, the GOP candidates currently vying for the nomination are, with one exception, keystone cops. Romney is perhaps the most qualified, but he has changed positions so often to satisfy the GOP base, that no one really knows where he stands.