Enough!!!!!
The GOP has overplayed its hand in DC and the Obama apparatus needs to put them in their place, now! The GOP has taken the olive branch of bi-partisanship, ripped from it its leaves, and is now using it as a spanking switch against change.
The latest victim in the GOP's Capitol Hill melee is organized labor in the person of Labor Secretary Designate Hilda Solis. The Labor Secretary Designate apparently has the temerity to be married not to a Wall Street banker but to the owner of an auto mechanic shop who is in dispute with local tax officials. I guess you need to be a wall streeter looking for a tax payer handout or an unlicensed plumber with tax problems to get the GOP's grace and forgiveness
The GOP's fig leaf assertion that a Designate should be liable for a business that they have no direct interest in or control of must be ripped away so that the nakedness of their duel attack on working people and Latinos can be seen by all.
The attack on Solis is a two-for for the GOP. The GOP, still looking for some relevance beyond talk radio, Fox News, and Pajama TV, needs to prove to big business that it can still champion its seemly unquenchable lust for lower wages and unregulated working environments. The campaign coffers of the Republican National Committee et al. are as empty as the nation's post-Bush help wanted pages and party leaders need a bailout like their banker buds on Wall Street received. Let's face it: middle class America is not about to pour a hundred million bucks into an effort to give back power the guys they just disposed of. The GOP needs the favor of the corporate elite.
In addition to proving themselves as reliable bag men of big business the GOP gets another even nastier benefit from its anti-Solis bash. All one has to do is read the comment section of a right wing blog on the topic to see that the bullying of Labor Secretary Designate Solis gives the GOP the opportunity to engage in its now favorite pastime of Latino bashing. Republican Senators have been very adept at standing just far enough away from the anti-Latino insanity of its right wing while privately laughing about its effectiveness as an organizing tool in their oak paneled cloak rooms
While bi-partisanship like good sportsmanship is a laudable behavior, Capitol Hill is not High School. There are real consequences to the national debate and a real impact would be felt should this nomination not be confirmed. If the Solis nomination fails, the administration may end up with more GOP'ers in its ranks than Latinos. The optics of an Obama cabinet building process that favors Repubs over loyal Latino Democrats would send a profound message to the grassroots. While the impact of such a high level slighting of Latinos is incalculable, it would clearly hurt the administration.
The Solis nomination should not be sacrificed on the alter of the unrealistic belief that the GOP will ever be civil until and unless they control Washington again. Team Obama must remember the word that roared through Mile High Stadium the night the President accepted his nomination to be the DEMOCRATIC Presidential nominee. Candidate Obama derided the broken politics of Washington and said with almost spiritual force: "ENOUGH!" The words echoed in Denver now they must do the same in DC.
Mario Solis-Marich is a talk show host that can be heard on am760 in Denver and worldwide at www.GoToMario.com. Mario is editor of NuestraVoice.com and is no relation to Congresswoman Solis.