Day 76...Dear Mr. President... It's Alice in Washingland!

Day 76

Dear Mr. President,

On Day 58 of my letter to you I asked what all the kerfuffle was about when it came to raising the debt ceiling because you could and should just use the 14^th amendment and do it. Well, here we are just two days before the “cataclysmic” day of default and just as I predicted in the Day 66 letter, you have been masterful in steering the Republicans in just the direction you wanted them to go in the first place…. down the rabbit hole.

For the purposes of this letter Mr. President, you are Alice, and you most certainly are not in Wonderland, but ‘Washingland.’ And it’s late, it’s late, and getting closer to a very important date. As you rush around Washingland trying to figure out where your party is, you meet Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the non-identical twins (Cantor and McConnell), fighting over who’s going to lead the talks. In comes the Cheshire Cat (Boehner), very colorful and always grinning, but something keeps happening to him… he starts to open his mouth to make a point, but suddenly he disappears. Oh my, he can’t seem to keep the talks going because he keeps disappearing, which is very sad indeed because no one is listening to him. Tweedledee and Tweedledum seem to be leading this parade of party-goers.

Every time you turn around you meet a different character antagonist, each tries to confuse, confound and baffle you. Every time you think you know which direction is correct, you are confronted with new rules and inexplicable behavior from the antagonists… all, professing to help you find your way.

Then there is the Queen of Hearts (Bachman), dominant, authoritative, and a regular tyrant in Washingland. She loves to play games, but only if they are played by her rules. If something displeases her, which is pretty much everything, she runs around yelling, “Off with his head, off with his head!” It doesn’t matter what peace offering you suggest, her answer is always the same. She has her own ideas about how Government should work and will not tolerate descent. She will never vote to raise the debt ceiling. Never, never, never.

And then there’s the Mad Hatter (Phillips), who is witless, sophomoric, very often rude, and is always trying to provoke a response. Although when the Queen of Hearts calls upon him to help with the Tea Party he, like everyone else at the Tea Party is afraid of the Queen. The rest of the partiers are the soldier cards of course… marching in lock-step to the whims of the Queen, because they have little regard for the Cheshire Cat, Tweedledee or Tweedledum.

So what is our Alice to do? Does she stay to hear the verdict from the Tea Partiers? Does she take Tweedledee and Tweedledum to the woodshed for a good talking too, or does she capture the elusive Cheshire Cat to keep him from disappearing and come to an agreement?

I’ll stay tuned Mr. President, but just remember… you have the trump card up your sleeve that the Queen and her minions don’t think you’ll play… the 14^th Amendment. It’s your call as to when the game if over and you send the Cheshire Cat off to lick his wounds.

Most Respectfully,

Marcia Reimers

Your Gadfly Granny