A lot of people are probably asking WTF is the GOP up to, throwing the kitchen sink at the Obama administration right from the get-go. Rush Limburger is publicly hoping that Obama fails, Dick Vader is sowing fear, the GOP congressional leaders are obstructing, and they are even rolling out Joe the Plumber.

What's up with this? It seems like an all or nothing strategy — and it is. The GOP is taking its cue from Rush — "I hope he fails — for a simple reason that Rush well understands. If Obama is successful, he becomes the next FDR and his agenda is the new New Deal. If that happens, the GOP will out in the wilderness for a long time to come, and they are well aware of their time in the wilderness after the New Deal. They cannot let that happen this time if they can possibly do anything to prevent it.

So their best option is to shoot the moon and hope that they aren't jumping the shark instead. It worked in the case of Bill Clinton. The GOP undercut him from the get-go and sunk him on the health care debacle in the first terms, setting the Dems up for a rout at the midterms. This seems to be the strategy that they've hit up for this round, too.

What are the chances of it's working? It can probably only work if Obama seriously blows it, since the political winds are behind change rather than more of the same. So they are counting on either Obama's weakness or else Dem ineptitude. The GOP also still has a lot of media support to draw on, and they are masters of deception. Polls show the stimulus plan is supported by only 37% of the public, largely because of disinformation. To some degree, Obama is already losing control of the message, and the GOP is closing in on this.

On the other hand, Obama first trounced the Clinton machine and then the GOP attack machine, both of which threw the kitchen sink and then the garbage at him, too. Obama is playing it cool, and coming across as post-partisan as the country seems to want. Will he come in for the kill, or just let the GOP skewer itself on its own petard?

Stay tuned.