Roll On Roland

So Roland S. Martin, CNN political analyst, believes Obama needs to go "gangsta" on the GOP. As he puts it, " I'm sick and tired of Democrats having power and being unwilling to use it."

He's talking about Republican threats of a filibuster to block Obama's nominees, and Obama's threat to make recess appointments.

If all of [the Republicans] choose to support a filibuster, then you take it to the American people and show the obstructionists for what they are. You get your grass-roots movement fired up to stand up and do something. The political right used its base to go after Democrats who blocked appointments to the federal bench and other positions. So why not be just as aggressive?

Here's one reason. How well did Republican fight against the Democrat's filibuster work? The Dems blocked plenty of candidates and the public rewarded them with control of Congress. Sometimes, the public likes obstructionisn, though in the case of minor appointments, the truth is they don't really care enough to make much difference either way.

Sure enough, Martin moves on to health care. I get the feeling that's what this is really about:

This president got rolled by the Senate over health care. His team made some boneheaded mistakes, and now they are paying for them. Continuing to play footsie with opponents will only get him into more trouble.

That's odd, because it seemed to me the President refused to pay footsie with the Republicans, and that's a lot of what got him in trouble.

Channel your inner Al Capone and go gangsta against your foes. Let 'em know that if they aren't with you, they are against you, and will pay the price.

It hasn't worked so far, but Martin, like so many of the Dem base, believes the proper prescription is more of the same.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Roland Martin.

That's the one thing in the column I agree with.