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Amidst the usual Obama bashing by the Republican Party, on Monday RNC Chairman Michael Steele answered a question, and in doing so summed up why the members of Republican Party are threatening themselves into extinction faster that the global warming they deny is threatening polar bears.

Speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Steele was asked several times about the Republican Party’s health care policy proposals to stand up against President Obama’s health care plan. He was asked why the GOP hadn’t laid out a plan yet and he stumbled and stuttered his way around a non-answer. When asked if he could name any specific GOP policies, he gave the answer that most people would expect from the top man of the party of “No!”, "Look I don't do policy," he said. "I'm not a legislator. My point in coming here was to establish a tone."

The only “tone” Michael Steele and the Republican Party are establishing, is the fact that they “tone deaf” to the needs of this country, and totally deaf to the wishes of the voters. The only “tones” they seem to be hearing are the same old song and dance from big insurance and the other special interests, who are afraid of any change in the status quo. But that’s only natural because conservatism dictates that they be afraid of and suspicious of even the slightest change.

Big insurance is afraid, not because they will be put out of business by Obama’s plan, because he is not by any means proposing a government run health care system that would put private insurance companies out of business. Health insurance lobbyists are willing to sacrifice the health and well-being of millions of Americans who either have no health insurance, or would lose it if they got really sick, and why? The answer is market share.

In order to avoid a possible drop in market share, they have been spending millions of dollars in lobbying money to prop up the candidacies of any politician who will show even the slightest favor towards stopping health care reform in its tracks just like they did in the 1990’s during the Clinton Administration. Opponents will call it “socialism”, or a “dangerous experiment”, and will try to convince you that we have the greatest health care system in the world, but don’t let them fool you. Sure it’s a great system if you can afford it, but tens of millions of us can’t. Health care costs are destroying families at an alarming rate, and will continue to do so until the system can be changed.

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The images that are coming out of Europe are no less than shocking. An American president being treated with enthusiasm abroad is something we have come to expect to be a thing of the past. Europe is treating the President and the First Lady like rock stars, sort of like the British Invasion of the 1960’s in reverse.

Yet while the rest of the world seems to be embracing a new America and its new president, back at home, it seems that little has changed. Yesterday while President Obama was building bridges with the leaders of the top 20 economic nations, including our so-called enemies China and Russia, the United States House of Representatives passed Obama’s budget strictly along party lines.

Each day the opposing party, the Republican Party, defines itself not only as the party of opposition but also the party of “No”. While Obama exudes positive energy, the Republicans search for a leader and exude nothing but negativity.

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The President and the First Lady were in London today, for the G20 Summit, where the leaders from the most powerful nations of the industrial world meet and discuss how to control the world’s wealth. Does the “G” stand for Greedy?

Amidst the ubiquitous tens of thousands of protestors as at any other “G” summit, the President hobnobbed with the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, he talked nuclear disarmament with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, and he faced some confrontation from French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, who blame much of their country’s economic woes on the United State’s failed economic policies.

Yet all was not lost for the day, because he and Michelle Obama had a visit with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. Not much more than a photo-op for a pure figurehead and a man of real power, the two couples exchanged what looked on camera to be forced small talk, and exchanged gifts. The Obama’s gave the Queen an iPod in exchange for a picture of the Queen. Who would you say got the better of that deal?

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President Obama is scheduled to visit the University of Notre Dame on May 17th, to receive an honorary degree and deliver a speech at the commencement ceremonies. The fact that he accepted the invitation from the university's president should be an honor to the university, its student body, and especially its graduates, except for one little problem, actually, make that two, the abortion issue, and embryonic stem cell research.

Being a Catholic university, Right-to-Lifer's are already planning to bring bus loads of protesters to line the motorcade route with dead fetus posters. On-campus pro-life organizations are already organizing so nobody claps when he finishes his speech, and Bishop John D'Arcy of the Diocese of Ft. Wayne-South Bend, which includes the University of Notre Dame has stated he will boycott the visit. Most certainly, the President was devastated when he first heard that news.

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A couple of weeks ago, I was called for jury duty. It is a “privilege” to serve on a jury. Other than voting, there’s probably nothing more that defines our American democracy than the fact that our courts use a “jury of (our) peers” to decide the fate of criminal and civil cases. The most important part to ensure the system functions properly and fairly is to find people who as jurors are able to put their own beliefs, biases or interests aside and apply the law as it is defined to them by the court for that particular case and circumstances.

That’s what I faced and that’s what President Obama faces concerning how to deal with Former Vice President Dick Cheney and Former President George W. Bush in regard to their breaches of the U.S Constitution and international law. It has nothing to do with what he wants, it has everything to do with applying the letter of the law, whether it’s convenient or not.

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President Barack Obama seems like a man America can trust. He seems to maintain his calm and composure no matter what you throw at him, he is intelligent and conveys that intelligence with an eloquence that is inclusive so everyone can understand what he is trying to say, and he really seems to have America's best interests at heart. But perhaps most endearing of all, President Obama and his wife Michelle seem to be honest.

He has been elected by the American people to get us through one of the toughest times in the history of this nation, surely in a generation. Yet time after time, we see this calm in the storm surrounded by people who are not as intelligent as him, who are not as calm as him, and who are definitely not as honest he is.

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