Okay, so maybe my studying for the bar is making me a bit cranky. But every time I read stories recounting the Republicans’ overt strategy to obstruct Obama’s stimulus plan in order to place him at the helm of a sinking ship so that they can, in four years, point to him and yell ‘FAIL!’, I always get an image in my head of Nero fiddling while Rome burned. Considering that Bush and the Republican-led Congress drove us so far into the ditch, why are they considered to have any credible say in the matter?

Here’s a flavor of how Republicans view their noble, high-minded, ‘Country First’ historical imperative:

At least some Republicans are starting to muster an anti-stimulus drive, claiming that President-elect Obama’s package will not help the economy. Their drive is centered on what they claim is a careful rereading of the history of the New Deal. According to their account, President Roosevelt’s policies actually lengthened the Great Depression.

In their story, we would have been better off if we just left the market to adjust by itself… [F]rom the standpoint of Republicans, the more ominous lesson of the New Deal policies is that it left the Democrats firmly in power for more than 20 years. The Republicans did not regain the White House until 1952, 20 years after President Roosevelt was first elected…

[T]he Republicans can be expected to adopt a strategy aimed at delaying and diluting the stimulus. We can expect their leaders to find every conceivable argument to slow down the spending that the economy desperately needs right now to prevent further job loss. While some of their concerns may be legitimate – we should all support efforts to restrain wasteful pork barrel spending and rein in corruption – these concerns should not be the basis for obstructing stimulus. The public should be careful to distinguish legitimate concerns from simple delaying tactics.

In short, we should realize that the main concern of some of those opposed to stimulus may not be that it will fail, but rather that it will succeed. Most of us don’t have the same set of concerns.

Yep, while our economy teeters on the brink of collapse, Republicans fiddle their obstructionist song in the craven interest of preserving what little is left of their political power.

‘Country First’ my ass…