From RealClearPolitics liveblogging of the health care debate.

“6:34 — I have to say, the Obama strategy is a pretty good one. He’s doing the easy part (spending) with the Democrats in office. If the Republicans win — and they certainly will with the governorships, if not Congress — they will be tasked with owning part of the hard part (tax hikes/spending cuts).

via Health Care Liveblog – Real Clear Politics – TIME.com.”

How idiotic is that statement? Well, just replace “Obama” with “Bush” and you’ll see. Think about it: Bush invades Iraq based on serially lying about WMD (among other things), violates the constitutions, spends a fortune for the Iraq fiasco, cuts taxes for the wealthiest Americans, leaves an economy in shambles, with a >$2 Trillion in debt.  … so now Barack Obama has to own 8 years of Bush (and Republican) excess, which Republicans try to use to tar and feather him. (Interesting how conservatives always discuss fiscal conservatism after their failed policies push the nation to the brink of insolvency.)

Anyway, what realclearpolitics sees as merely a political strategy reveals their failure of vision. Real leaders stand up and face crisis in the face; they don’t flinch they lead. Fortunately for us, Barack Obama is just such a guy. He takes a questionable political stance (expanding health care) in the short term in favor of the long term view, preferring to do what is best for the nation and for all Americans (even the crazy old folks who bitterly detest “government takeovers” while greedily sucking up their medicare benefits.)  Good thing too. We finally have real leadership in the white house. We have greater fiscal responsibility, we have efforts to deal with the major problems of our era (immigration, global warming, health care.)

The point: leadership is about leading. Barack Obama is leading. If the Republicans stopped being worried about elections and started worrying about governing, they too could be part of the solution. Indeed, if republicans were part of the solution, it would be better for the country because it would generate faith in institutions, comity, shared responsibility, and join us all in a common goal. (IF you remember, Democrats joined republicans on education reform, expansion of the children’s insurance program, and even the war itself. They were not merely obstructionist, even though we might have been better off if they were.)

However, acting like leaders would force Republicans to run away from their base: the angry, fundamentalist, anti-government, ahistorical, racist, neo-nazi, shouting bullies. This may work as short-term policy, but in the long term haters lose. Americans recognize just how incongruous it is for the wealthy and for folks with advantage and with government healthcare (i.e. medicare) to decry the government that protects their freedoms. Indeed, the haters lost the struggle for African American freedom, the struggle against Jim Crow, the struggle for a corporate state, the struggle against labor, the battle to limit immigration (repeatedly), the war of corporations on children and communities and the environment, the struggle for women’s rights, the Civil Rights Act and so on. (And, by the way, Republican leaders–think Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Eisenhower–actually have been important leaders in this struggle, so this is really not a partisan issue. History is on the side of greater freedom and expanded opportunity, not on the side of those who seek to curtail American’s rights and freedoms, even if they do so in the name of “small government.” Most Americans know the difference between expanded rights and responsibilities and  the hollow promises of those who want to impose their narrow religious, economic, and cultural views on the rest of us.