Sabotage!

It's no secret that the day Obama was elected, the Republicans went to work jamming his agenda, to make their number 1 priority, as Senator Mitch McConnell said, unseating him in 2012.

Not jobs.
Not the war.
Not the economy.
Not children.
Not puppies.

Nope. Job #1: Undermining the president and making him a one-termer.

Let's just call it what it is: sabotage.
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• Biden: McConnell decided to withhold all cooperation even before we took office - The Plum Line - The Washington Post -(8/10/2012) http://wapo.st/OQxZ6E
• "page 207:Biden says that during the transition, he was warned not to expect any cooperation on many votes. “I spoke to seven different Republican Senators, who said, `Joe, I’m not going to be able to help you on anything,’ he recalls. His informants said McConnell had demanded unified resistance. “The way it was characterized to me was: `For the next two years, we can’t let you succeed in anything. That’s our ticket to coming back,’” Biden says."
• (confirmed by Bob Bennett and Arlen Specter)
• "The Republicans' 2012 election strategy is perversely brilliant: Sabotage President Barack Obama's job-creation efforts, then blame him for the wreckage. This strategy was in action the other day, when Mitt Romney assailed Mr. Obama on the stump. Mr. Romney said that "with America in crisis, with 23 million people out of work or stopped looking for work, he hasn't put forth a plan to get us working again. // Mr. Romney conveniently omitted the fact that Mr. Obama put forth such a jobs plan last autumn. The American Jobs Act would have put as many as 2 million construction workers, cops, teachers and firefighters back to work -- so said economic forecasters -- if only congressional Republicans hadn't dynamited it. // Yes, sabotage was required. Republicans knew their prospects for beating Mr. Obama would be damaged if they signed on to a plan that got more Americans working again. They're far too invested in economic misery to let that happen. As Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell candidly remarked in 2010, "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."" (Sabotage Obama: The GOP's Job-Killing Political Strategy is Working Just Fine, July 2012)
• The Guardian: Did Republicans deliberately crash the US economy? Be it ideology or stratagem, the GOP has blocked pro-growth policy and backed job-killing austerity – all while blaming Obama (June 2012)
• 87/2012 @thinkprogress: Herman Cain is hoping for much higher gas prices to improve Romney's chances http://thkpr.gs/RmevK7
• Ryan shunned debt-ceiling standoff "Grand Bargain" bc feared a boost for Obama : Family, Faith and Politics Describe Life of Paul Ryan - NYTimes.com - http://nyti.ms/Nl6hDa
  • Ryan’s enormous influence was apparent last summer when Representative Eric Cantor, the second most powerful House Republican, told Mr. Obama during negotiations over an attempted bipartisan “grand bargain” that Mr. Ryan disliked its policy and was concerned that a deal would pave the way for Mr. Obama’s easy re-election, according to a Democrat and a Republican who were briefed on the conversation.
  • (more on debt deal: Matt Bai - Obama vs. Boehner - Who Killed the Debt Deal? - NYTimes.com (3/28/2012) http://nyti.ms/GTj3Bj )