Grab A Mop, Get to Work

So I’m still catching up on the news and watched President Obama speak at a fundraiser in San Francisco. Definitely a red meat speech — as much as he actually does that — but it is a great speech specifically calling out the Party of No:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPSxDe-ae3I[/youtube]

Very impressive — according to Andrew Sullivan:

It’s an inspired three-word challenge to the GOP. Devastating, actually – because it both reminds people of the damage the GOP did while not seeming to dwell on the past or to score partisan points (while actually doing both).

And the DNC seems to be picking it up — sending out volunteers to deliver mops to the Republican National Committee headquarters and ask Republicans to pitch in and help clean up the mess they’ve made over the last eight years.” Wonder if anyone will deliver a mop to Mike Castle? He could use a reminder to not just stand around and critique the people cleaning up the mess he helped to make. Or maybe someone with mad Photoshop skilz could get us an image of Castle holding up his own mop? Delaware Gothic, we could call it.

I can’t find a video of the entire speech the President gave in San Francisco — but the full text of the remarks are here. It is good to remind people of the challenges handed to this administration — the ones they planned for and the ones they didn’t. It is good to remind people that there are people in government — Republicans — who not only stood by the destruction of huge portions of the economy, but who want to destroy more of it. For all of the brain-dead name calling of socialism and fascism and whatever, there is just one group of people who won’t let go their ideology to work on the fix. These people are still stuck trying to blame the crash on Fannie and Freddie and the CRA. (Do not follow any investment advise from these people!) As much as I think the President wants bipartisan working relationships, he can’t be the only one working at that. And bipartisanship does mean that repubs have to come to the table with ideas, not ideology, and understand that they will not run the board. That said, this from the President’s speech is worth reading and thinking about:

But I just want to remind you guys once again, because you’re here tonight, you’ve invested a lot in this Democratic Party and invested in me –- I want everybody to understand this is not going to be easy. It’s not going to happen overnight. It’s not going to happen in nine months. It’s not going to happen in 18 months. It’s not going to happen in 36 months, some of the problems we’re talking about.

Iraq was hard. Afghanistan is harder. There are -– really are people out there who would be happy to blow up this room, wouldn’t bat an eye. And we’ve got to deal with those folks. The dangers of nuclear proliferation are real. And it requires incredibly time-consuming, methodical negotiations in order to move us in a more peaceful direction.

I want everybody to know this because I hope that the election was not just a fad.

AUDIENCE: No!

THE PRESIDENT: I hope that people didn’t just think, well, that’s done, that was fun, I really liked those posters. (Laughter.)

I need you guys to understand that what we’re trying to do is hard. And I want you to be excited by that. I want you to be energized by that. (Applause.) Because if it was easy it would have already been done. If it was easy it wouldn’t have been worth all the effort to get here. (Applause.) And I want everybody to know who are standing in the way of progress: I’m not tired. (Applause.) I’m just getting started. (Applause.) You can throw whatever you want at me –- keep it coming, we’re going to get this done. We’re going to get health care done. (Applause.) We’re going to get clean energy done. We’re going to get climate change done. We’re going to fix our schools. We are going to deal with the problems internationally that I was elected to deal with. (Applause.)

We are at a rare moment where we’ve been given the opportunity to remake our world for the better. (Applause.) And there’s something about the American spirit -– inherent in the American spirit — we don’t hang on to the past. We always move forward. And that movement doesn’t begin in Washington –- it begins with you. It begins because the American people decide it’s time to move forward. You decide it’s time for change. And if you do that now, just as you did during the campaign, we are not only going to rebuild our economy, we are not only going to pass health care, but we’re going to do what earlier generations have done. We are going to leave something better for our children –- not just here in the United States, but all around the world. (Applause.)

So I hope that you aren’t tired either, because I expect you to stand along with me as we get this business moving. (Applause.) Thank you very much, everybody. God bless you. Thank you. (Applause.)