I watched the Senate Subcommittee doing the markup of the Bachus bill, and it is obvious (in case you've been asleep for 9 months) Bi-partisianship has failed. It takes two to bi, and Republicans don’t want to try.

The GOP has decided that for their side to win Obama, Pelosi, Healthcare, and Americans in need, all must lose. So they are singing that classic Groucho Marx ditty. “I don’t know what they have to say, it makes no difference anyway. Whatever it is, I’m against it.”

The GOPeers are singing in unison and they are pulling it off. Regular folks are humming along. “Your proposition may be good, but let’s have one thing understood — whatever it is, I’m against it!”

President Obama believes that we will have better laws and better governance if we can achieive bi-partisianship. He’s right, by that I mean correct, but bi-partisianship just won’t work. At least, not now. Because, as I heard at the markup, “And even when you’ve changed it or condensed it, I’m against it.”

The only possible way to get bi-partisianship on the next big issue is for Dems to totally go it alone on Healthcare. Alone.  Not along.  Alone. Continually reaching out a hand of bi-partisianship and getting it bit just makes Obama look weak. And the polls seem to show his efforts aren’t working.

The way to achieve bipartisan support is to demonstrate that if GOPers don’t want to play, America doesn’t need them. The votes and the will are there to make laws in which they have no input. The best they can do is vent on FoxNews to position themselves for the next election, which is all they seem to be doing anyway.

A campaign must be launched that makes Americans aware that Republicans are not needed to solve America’s problems. The Dems need to put the BAM on them. And do it hard.

I used to love to hear Groucho sing, “No matter what it is, or who commenced it, I’m against it.” Now, it just makes me seethe.

If they are left out, and their noses are rubbed in it, maybe the Republicans will start to understand, and put some effort into compromise. Or maybe they’ll scream they’ve been a victim of death panels. If so, it seems to me that they’ve shot themselves.

“Whatever It Is, I’m Against It” PD Lyrics by Bert Kalmar with music by Harry Ruby, performed by Groucho Marx in Horse Feathers (1932)