FU - FairAndUNbalanced.com

The avalanche started by Rush Limbaugh continues to echo. Most Republicans have taken up the mantra. Obama must fail. Those GOP office holders who opposed Rush on patriotic grounds quickly ended up apologizing, forced to humiliate themselves in public. In the House and Senate, the GOP votes as a unit.

Any charge of a lack of patriotism would need some corroboration. After all, Democrats were unapologetic before 9/11 in wanting President Bush to fail. They explained that his policies would hurt the country. They wanted him to fail only to the extent that they wanted the country to succeed. Some Republicans have tried to strike the same balance regarding President Obama. They want him to fail in enacting policies, but only when those policies would fail and so hurt the country. That is fair enough, right?

So Rush clarified his comments in a rousing speech to conservatives. He projected his feelings onto Democrats. Even though those who watched Iraq slipping into chaos publicly hoped for success but saw only failure, Rush and his audience knew those predictions were wishful thinking, not expressions of concern. Rush repeated his own hope, and he confirmed that it is political. "I do want Obama to fail." Conservatives cheered until they were hoarse.

Republicans want to win elections. They can't if Obama is successful.

Republicans need to oppose and defeat Barack Obama on a wide range of issues, wrote William Kristol after the President spoke to Congress. The danger, as Kristol sees it is that Obama's policies will succeed in advancing the nation in "energy, health care and education." The success for America will make him another FDR. That success will reduce Republicans "to the unpleasant role of bystanders or the unattractive status of complainers, as Barack Obama makes history."

Michelle Bachmann also fears Obama will become an FDR, whom she regards as another socialist. In a recovery, Democrats will "be able to, for all time, secure a power base that for all time can never be defeated." She calls for action. "...we need to do everything we can to thwart them at every turn..."

Former Senator Rick Santorum, R-PA was interviewed. "...absolutely we hope that his policies fail."

"Creating 600,000 new jobs might help cement Virginia in the Democrat column, making it harder for Republicans to retake the White House." This comes from Ken Blackwell of Ohio.

The dominant wing of the GOP lies awake and sweating in the dark of the night, with a growing conviction that President Obama's policies are sound.

Your turn.