Bill Clinton: Call Bluff of 'Spiteful' Republicans

Former President Bill Clinton, whose Democratic administration was the last to experience a partial government shutdown in 1996, advised President Barack Obama not to negotiate with Republicans on the eve of another shutdown. 

It's Republicans who are making unlawful demands. They want to hold the US government hostage because they don't want to obey the health care reform law.

Democrats can't get sucked into a political hostage situation to repeal of the health care reform law, just because selfish right wing Republicans don't happen to like it. Obamacare is already a law. There's lots of other laws we don't like. Gee, I'd like to see Congress amend Second Amendment gun rights laws. Maybe, Congress should close the government down until the Second Amendment is modified to require stronger background checks for those who buy automatic weapons. 

Obviously, Congressional right wing Republicans would rather deprive Americans of access to affordable health insurance than to protect us from preventable gun violence. But, nobody I know is willing to shut down the government to protect about 30,000 preventable gun violence deaths a year (tragically) by modifying the Second Amendment. 

So, why do Republicans want to drive the government into shut down because they don't like the health care reform aka "Obamacare". The only reason for this spiteful behavior is horribly simple. It's because right wing Republicans don't want to support anything proposed by President Obama. Period. In all honesty, if the health care reform law were called "Reagancare" rather than "Obamacare", we'd likely be talking about the law's virtues rather than any potential faults.

Moreover, a majority of Americans don't want to hold the US government hostage to a shut down to repeal the health care reform law. Even Tea Party right wing Senator Cruz agrees that Americans want to uphold the Obamacare law.  

As per the Meet the Press transcript of Sunday September 29th,  Senator Cruz said, "We look at the phrasing....'Uphold this law?' I promise you, if you do any poll on, 'Do you want to uphold this law,' (and) the answer is always yes."

Nevertheless, speaking out of both sides of his mouth, Senator Cruz says Americans don't want Obamacare. Nevertheless, Senator Cruz hasn't asked people in Massachusetts if they like their version of Obamacare, where it's been implemented since 2006.

President Clinton has some good advice:

“I think there are times when you have to call people’s bluff,” Clinton said in an interview with ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” adding that he thought Republican tactics to undermine the 2010 Affordable Care Act seem “almost spiteful.”

Controlling our government with spiteful behavior is incompetent leadership.

Obviously, Republicans must be voted out of office. Their bully tactics can no longer be tolerated, because they're using this methodology to drag our nation into destructive political acrimony.

Our US is a nation of laws. Obamacare is a law. Congressional Republicans are elected to uphold the nation's laws. 

Republicans must stop being spiteful and driven by obsession to repeal Obamacare. They must learn how to govern. It's what they're paid by us the taxpayers, to do. It's called leadership. If they can't do it, they must be fired.