Brent Budowsky

What would the great columnists such as Walter Lippmann and James “Scotty” Reston write about the president at a moment like this?

As media controversy about the Benghazi attack swirls across official Washington and throughout major media, President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should consider why so many in mainstream media have joined the conservative press in the stampeding herd that now puts them on the defensive.

House Republicans are misusing taxpayer money and abusing House committee rules to promote a partisan vendetta against President Obama and the woman who has earned the stature of being the most admired political leader in America, and a stateswoman who is widely admired around the world: former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) recently said that the reason the gun background check bill did not pass the Senate, despite that the fact that nearly 90 percent of voters support it, is that many Republican senators refuse to support anything that would give President Obama a legislative victory.

The magnitude, intensity, and obsession of rightist hatred of the president is unprecedented in the history of American politics because it has poisoned the ability of Republican leaders in Congress to work in good faith with a twice-elected American president.

It is time to end the obstruction against justice committed by Senate Republicans who first abuse the senatorial courtesy known as blue slips, which gives senators a voice in presidential nominations of federal judges, and then abuse the Senate filibuster rules, to obstruct confirmation of judicial nominees receiving high ratings from the American Bar Association and majority support from senators.

I am a Democrat in the tradition of Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy.

There is a powerful and profound convergence of interest between Team Obama, Team Clinton and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate.

On Thursday, the weekly jobless claims number ballooned to an unacceptable 385,000. On Friday the monthly jobs report showed a collapse in job creation to an anemic and unacceptable 88,000. The actual unemployment rate went down to 7.6 percent because the labor participation rate collapsed to the lowest level since 1979. Perhaps we can have full employment if every jobless worker gave up and stopped looking for work.

From President Obama’s perspective, the headlines throughout the weekend will highlight the latest jobless pain with his leaked plan to cut Social Security and Medicare. The fact is that since the president began his outreach to Republicans during the last month and job creation tanked, his Gallup poll numbers have tanked with the low job creation.

John Kennedy wrote a book called Profiles in Courage about members of the Senate who rose above cowardice and fear to do what was right for the nation.

Today there are tears from the children of Newtown in heaven because profiles in cowardice are defeating profiles in courage in the capital of our country. The NRA bully of extremism is on the march. The rest of Washington is in retreat. It is a pathetic sight for men and women of courage and honor to behold. What President Obama said Wednesday was true. The children deserve a vote and the nation deserves a law.

Retired four-star Gen. David Petraeus has carefully initiated his return to the public arena. This is good news for all who are concerned with America’s national security. Petraeus made a significant mistake. He has taken responsibility for it. He has apologized to his family and the nation and now has much to offer in the service of our country. The sooner he is given this opportunity, the better.