Rains from the Eaves

            On December 13, 1862, Union General Ambrose Burnside attacked the Confederate army by sending his troops charging up Marye's Hilll west of Fredericksburg where the rebels held the high ground.  The result was a massacre of epic proportions.  Confederate General James Longstreet later compared the rate of falling Federals to the "...steady dripping of rains from the eaves of a house."

            Every time I reflect on the current battle in Washington I think of Senator Cruz leading his cohorts in Congress in a battle he cannot win against Senator Reid and his Senate Democrats who hold the high ground.  The attempt to defund ObamaCare cannot succeed any more than the senseless charge of Burnside's troops at Fredericksburg.  Senator Cruz, as valiant as he is, should have chosen a different time and better ground to engage the enemy.
            The Union army occupied the town of Fredericksburg, just as the Republicans control the House.  It held the town hostage, just as the Tea Party is accused of holding the country hostage by refusing to pass a clean spending bill.  But, just as in Fredericksburg, Republicans cannot dislodge the entrenched opposition holding the high ground.  As a consequence of this  foolhardy charge, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are drooling over the prospects of  voters in next year's elections causing the Republicans in Congress to fall like "dripping of rains from the eaves of a house."
            The question remains: How will the voters remember this tawdry episode?  Will they hold the Republicans responsible for closing down the government, or will they recall the obstinacy of the Democrats in refusing to pass House bills to ease the burden on veterans, on national parks, and on D.C. government?  Will they hold the president accountable for preventing WW II veterans from visiting their memorial on the Washington Mall or the graves of their fallen comrades in Normandy?
            To me, there is one important difference between the attitude of the victors at Fredericksburg and that of the Democrats in Washington.  The Confederates did not rejoice at the slaughter of their foes; they felt a genuine compassion at the sight of the bodies of Union soldiers piled high on Marye's Hill.  In Washington we hear the Democrats and their media sycophants call the Republicans racists, anarchists, obstructionists, and worse.  The president himself is blitzing the country excoriating his opposition, while vowing never to negotiate a cease fire.  There is a meanness in his speeches that has never been heard before.
            Is this the kind of leadership we should expect from our elected officials?  In a battle as nasty, brutish, and ugly as this one, is it any wonder opinion polls of politicians are dropping?  Perhaps like "rains from the eaves of a house"?