Aside from Amos and precious few others, quite a few Mudcatters need to get out of their own echo chamber and realize that we are not in fact the world--or even the US.

Politics is the art of the possible--I wonder who's heard that before.

And hands up, those who think Obama would get a better deal with the incoming Congress than he got with the recent agreement so many Mudcatters seem to enjoy fulminating about.

Now I've heard that Canada above the US is like a college professor above a biker bar--so Canadians are not expected to identify with the contact sport of US politics.

But Americans should understand at least that conspiracy theories don't really help in either understanding--or especially in dealing with--political realities.

So the first thing to do is ditch the conspiracy theories.   And possibly even consider the possibility that since Obama has shown he is willing to compromise with the Republicans, that puts a lot more of the burden on them to compromise also in the future--or be clearly seen as the problem.

A lesson our president definitely has learned.

By the way, with (officially still) a Democratic House (lame duck), Democratic Senate, and Democratic president, who do you think voters would blame if unemployment insurance was not extended?    Republicans?    Give your head a shake.