Can Obama win the 2012 presidential election? I think he can, but it's going to be a close one and he needs to do a few things, starting now.

One of the main things people agree on is that President Obama has always tried to get everyone on both sides of the aisle to work together on the issues. While this is good in theory, it's impossible when the Republicans have made it their unwavering goal to ensure that Obama is a one-term president. This means that if the president says the sky is blue, the Republicans will argue that the sky is red. If Obama says yes, the Republicans will say no. The issues no longer matter to the Republican right, and since they are taking their cues from the radical Tea Party and Mr. Norquist, it's a losing game for the Obama administration.

So what can be done?

President Obama needs to wake up and get serious. No one across the aisle is going to work with him, nor do they care about bi-partisan agreements on the issues. He needs to put massive legislation on the table, starting with a jobs program to get this country back to work, and dare the Republicans to vote it down. And you know what? Let them vote it down. That way he can stand up and honestly say that he has tried time and again to do what's best for the American people, and due to the Republican's agenda, he can't get anything through congress. Perhaps this will finally get the American people to stand up and realize that the Republicans aren't thinking about them. They are thinking about big corporations and the wealthiest of our citizens. It never ceases to amaze me when poor people vote Republican. Trust me, poor people are the last people on Republican's minds.

Look at what is happening all over the world right now. Markets are falling, country's credit ratings are being downgraded, riots are breaking out, and citizens are rising up for what they believe in. The world is changing, for better or worse. It's time that our president, whom we elected based on the "change we can believe in", fight tooth and nail for the principles I know he still believes. Who cares if someone wants to use the term Socialist? Is free healthcare for all, a basic human right in my mind, a bad thing? Should we not have a giant government program to rebuild our country's infrastructure and put thousands and thousands of people back to work? Has trickle down economics not been proven false time and again?

I love when I talk to people who are fortunate enough to have money and/or run big corporations. I always hear the same thing. "I worked hard to make my money and I don't want the government taking it away." Well, believe it or not, I completely agree, however, most of the wealthy people and companies aren't actually paying their fare share like everyone else. They have outstanding accountants that find all the loopholes and write-offs to ensure they pay next to nothing in taxes. Why don't we just have a flat tax with no loopholes so that everyone pays the same percentage based on their income. We would end up paying less in taxes and our country's deficit problems would be gone. Yes, I know it's not that easy, but it's a good place to start. There's no reason that someone earning $40k/yr pays over 30% in taxes. How can you possibly live on that small amount of money? And, there are lots of people making far less than that these days. Things need to change.

How about the people who say that if we give more tax breaks to corporations they will create more jobs? Well, the corporations have had outstanding tax breaks for many years and yet they aren't creating jobs. They are in fact sitting on over $2 trillion in reserves, and they aren't about to dip into that pool to give some blue collar worker a job. In fact they are now lobbying to strip union rights, collective bargaining, health care and other benefits, etc. You know what the easiest way is to explain that trickle down economics doesn't work? IF THERE'S NO ONE TO BUY THE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW MANY TAX BREAKS A COMPANY RECEIVES. They will still go out of business won't they?

A government should be designed to take care of, and protect, its citizens. We elected President Obama based on those principles and his ideas of how to achieve those goals. It's time for him to stop singing Kumbaya and start screaming from the top of his lungs that this partisan garbage is not going to get him to compromise his beliefs any longer. Come on Mr. President, we know you can.