Welcome Back to the Party of No.

Not two days into the new reorganization of government, we can all rest assured that the government will go back to partisan politics as usual.

With the very real concerns our country is facing over mortgages, unemployment and health care, it is a wonder at all that any politician would be talking about the presidential run for 2012. Yet here we are. While Democrats are, generally,  pushing for compromise and attempting to find ways to work together, the general Republican feedback has been less than conciliatory.

In case you’ve missed it, here is a short compilation of motives from the newly Republican dominated House of Representatives and their agenda going forward:

Senator McConnell of Kentucky stated that their top priority should be to deny Obama a second term in office.

Michelle Bachmann of  Minnesota has been quoted as wanting to investigate the current Democratic leaders, McCarthy style,  for “un-American behavior.”

Sarah Palin, the ex-governor of Alaska, who, remember, didn’t finish her term, was seen on Fox News making tongue-in-cheek references to a run for the presidential election in 2012.

Pardon me. But shouldn’t we be talking about 2010?

At first I was hopeful that the Republicans would finally have a turn to walk the talk, finally given a chance to put their money where their mouths are  and prove to us that they had ideas that would work.

But why would they? Anything they do, as pointed out by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, would ultimately be credited to Obama’s administration. Why would they want to do that? Instead what is likely to happen is a good-old-fashioned blockade on all things pushed by the Democrats in an attempt to make a clearer case for the Republican candidate of 2012.

It seems clear to me that as the people of our country are suffering, the partisan political system has become more and more polarized, to the point of extremism. Something needs to change and I don’t know what or how.

But I do know that I don’t care about the next presidential campaign as much as I care that all of the houses in my neighborhood are in foreclosure, that 3 out of 5 of my friends and family are out of work and that my husband’s firefighter health policy that covers my family of five is under attack. I care that my children continue to get quality public education in reasonable class sizes. I  care that my Vietnam veteran father and veteran father-in-law will be able to get the medical aid they need as they age.  I care that the roads continue to be maintained in my very rural community.

We forget sometimes that our government and taxes pay for real services. If they need to be worked on, so be it. But let’s get to work on the very real issues facing us today and leave the presidential run for later, shall we?