Co-dependent Republicans enable Obama

I had high hopes the 2010 midterm election would really result in the kind of change Tea Party activists envisioned and worked so hard to secure.

It's time to admit the system is still broken. It's time to admit representative government is just plain malfunctioning. It's time to admit the Democrats are only a part of the problem and Republicans are not necessarily the solution.

I know you don't want to hear this message today. After all, it's late fall 2011. We're in the midst of a presidential election year. For most freedom-loving Americans, they can't wait to elect any and every Republican seeking office next year, so we can get our country back on track.

But let's look at the political record since Republicans took over the House of Representatives in January. What did they accomplish? What did they do to stop Barack Obama's efforts to bankrupt the country? How did they challenge him? How did they provide a clear vision of an alternative to socialism — debt as far as the eye can see, official corruption and the most aggressive social engineering agenda ever to come out of Washington?

I don't see much of a track record of accomplishment by House Speaker John Boehner and his crew. The predictable failure of the "stupor committee" is actually a welcome sight. It was Boehner's surrender, capitulation and appeasement on the debt limit that set up this farce. Boehner wielded a nuclear political weapon with the debt limit and gave it away. It was unforgivable. It was a disaster. But it was in the nature of Republican politics. Boehner never even considered the possibility of freezing the debt, which was completely in his power to do.

Instead, after complaining about how much Obama spent, how he was wrecking the economy and saddling our great-grandchildren with debt, they authorized him to spend another $1.5 trillion we don't have.

What did Republicans get out of the deal? I'm still trying to figure it out.

Did Obama outsmart him? Not so much. My theory is that Republican leaders like Boehner are simply political co-dependents. They can't help but enable their Democratic counterparts. They are two sides of the same coin. And that coin is losing its luster for me.

And where have the Republicans been as Obama exhibits some of the most egregious, outlandish and blatant forms of political corruption since Tammany Hall? Have they called him to account for Solyndra and the green energy scam that looted the Treasury and lined the pockets of his political cronies? Where are the demands for a special prosecutor? How can we be ready for a new election when we're still learning how he stole the last one? How much more evidence do we need to see when his administration insisted that Solyndra hold off any layoff announcements until after Election Day last year?

I could list dozens of other Obama scandals enabled by the Republicans. At some point, we have to acknowledge the GOP as complicit in these crimes. Obama's not that smart, and I don't think Republicans are that dumb.

What's going on here? Are we really going to fare better in 2012 by electing a Republican to the presidency and winning GOP control of the Senate? I wonder.

It's time to demand more than talk from Republicans. In election years, Republican politicians tickle our ears with talk about a return to limited government, eliminating entire departments of the federal bureaucracy and ending corruption. But do they mean it? Where's the evidence? Where's the track record? Why aren't they challenging Obama like they believe the very fate of our nation hangs in the balance?

To find out more about Joseph Farah and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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