In an earlier post I restated my support for President Obama and for his commitment to seeking a middle ground between Democratic and Republican policies. But the recent debacle— the Republican manufactured debt-limit crisis— has proven that there is no compromising with the right wing zealots who control the G.O.P.

Their two-prong goal is clear: starve the U.S. government of revenue, thus creating the necessity of abolishing social programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and aid to the poor; and defeating the President.

Michele Bachman, Republican Congresswoman from Minnesota and a leading candidate for her party’s nomination for President, said it quite clearly in her speech at the Iowa presidential straw poll. She told the crowd that her victory is “a down payment on taking our country back… Barack Obama will be a one-term President.”

Bachman and the seven other contenders for the Republican nomination pledged to the Fox News moderator at the Iowa debate that they would not accept a deficit-reduction package that offered $10 in cuts for every $1 in revenue increase.

So this is the Republican platform: Take back their America by defeating Obama, protecting tax breaks for the rich, and shredding the social safety net.

I respect the President for sticking with his campaign promise to try and unite the country around common goals. He has angered his own base with his willingness to meet his opposition half way, only to be rejected by the Republicans at every turn. Their uncompromising mantra is “no deals, take no prisoners”, and the health of the nation be damned.

While I have agreed with his pragmatic ways and his willingness to compromise in an elusive search for common consent, I now believe it is time to call their hand.

Senator Charles Schumer, D-New York, was quoted in the New York Times as saying “The President’s team puts a premium on being above the partisan fray, which is usually the right strategy. But… when he knows what the right thing to do is, and when a rather small group on one side is blocking any progress, you have to be willing to call that group out if you want to get anything done.” (www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/us/politics/14econ.html?ref=todayspaper)

I agree, and humbly offer President Obama the following advice:

Mr. President, call them out! Put a bill on the table that resembles the $4 trillion “grand bargain” that House Speaker John Boehner first agreed to, and then walked away from, during negotiations on increasing the debt limit.

Combine it with your proposals to create jobs: the infrastructure bank, a payroll tax holiday, trade agreements that are languishing in the Senate, and tax incentives for small business hiring.

Most economists I have read— including Paul Krugman (Nobel laureate and Harvard Professor), Martin Feldman (former chair of President Ronald Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisors) and Henry Paulson (President George W. Bush’s Treasury Secretary)— agree that there must be a mix of revenue and cuts in order to reduce the nation’s debt to a manageable level.

So, make sure that the bill includes revenue enhancements such as letting the Bush tax cuts expire at the end of 2012 and closing tax loopholes. Add in a tax on lobbyist expenditures and on excessive bonuses paid to CEOs.

Put a fee on stock transactions, and tax hedge fund managers at the same rate as autoworkers and teachers. There can be no compromising here: revenue has to be included.

Entitlement reform must also be addressed, and this can be done without damaging the most vulnerable Americans. Focus on enhancing the revenues that go into the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.

Explain to the citizens that these programs are funded through a payroll tax on employees, employers and self-employed workers… but that the tax is unbalanced and favors the rich because it applies only to the first $106,000 of income.

Thus, workers making $50,000 per year pay the tax on 100% of their income, while a person making $1 million pays on just over 10%. The obvious solution is to apply the tax to all earned income (or, at least, raise the cape to $500,000).  In addition, increase the Medicare premiums and co-payments for high-income earners.

Then ask Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to call the Senate back into session and introduce the bill. When the Republicans filibuster, bring it up again, and again, and again. Make them repeatedly vote down a sensible solution. No more compromise, no more games, just fix the problem.

Meanwhile, Mr. President, you need to speak clearly and often to the American people. They need to understand the dimension of the problem, and the reasonableness of your solutions.

They need to understand that this mess was not created by Democratic over spending, but by the nearly $1.5 trillion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and $1.8 trillion in President George W. Bush tax cuts.

Bush, in fact, inherited a surplus which the Congressional Budget Office projected would continue growing if President Clinton’s economic policies were maintained. Bush instead left you with a deficit of over $1 trillion and growing

The people need to know that the total of cost of new policies for the Bush years was $5.07 trillion, and during your administration $1.4 trillion (and $711 billion of that was for the stimulus that abated the recession, $425 billion for tax cuts and $152 billion for health reform and entitlements).

Mr. President, be passionate and bold, be relentless and speak truth to the people. Be clear about the necessary sacrifices all Americans must make to secure the nation’s future for our grandchildren. Show us that you are as determined to rebuild the middle class as the Republicans are to enhance the wealth of the already rich.