Obama is taking a terrific risk, he knows it and he's told us as much. If it works, he will be a hero for as long as anyone who remembers his administration lives. If it doesn't, he will cause untold economic disaster and he and his party will be finished, probably forever. He is doing what a French Foreign Legion commander once did during the Mexican War when surrounded by the rebeldes and out of gunpowder: he ordered a bayonet charge.*

The Republicans did nothing before and are suggesting nothing now. All they are offering is obstruction and Monday morning quarterbacking. If Obama fails they will come off smelling like a rose without having done anything constructive. If he succeeds they and their party will be finished, probably forever.

These are times of high drama, profound events, and long lasting consequences. Sit back and savor them. He will do whatever he has to do, whatever he thinks he has to do, and you can trust that just like George Bush, he will do what he thinks is right. He has the mandate, the votes and the political capital, sound familiar? And from what I can tell, he's consulting with his opponents much more than they did with theirs.

You guys had your chance, let him have his.

*They got wiped out.