America is now facing its biggest economic challenges since the great depression. Last year, 2.6 million Americans lost their jobs. Last month another 600,000 went looking for work. Economists say if unemployment figures were determined in the same way as 30 years ago, we would now be talking about 17 percent unemployment levels. Millions of Americans are struggling to keep their health care and homes, and millions of Americans are losing that struggle.

President Obama is working to keep the nation afloat in this economic storm left to him by the Bush Administration. But what would you think of someone who wishes to see him fail? What would you call someone who does not want that want to see the president to recreating jobs and helping people keep their homes? If our president fails, America fails. Remember, wishing for the president to fail is not the same as wishing the president would have different policies...

So who is the one that wished the President to fail? His name is Rush Limbaugh. When asked by a major print organization to offer 400 words on his hope for the Obama presidency he said:

"If I wanted Obama to succeed, I'd be happy the Republicans have laid down. I don't want this to work. So I'm thinking of replying to this guy, say 'okay, I'll send you a response, but I don't need 400 words, I need four: I hope he fails'".

Even conservative Bill Bennett disagreed with Limbaugh's saying he wished Obama to fail. On CNN's "State of the Union," Bennett said that the locution 'I want him to fail' is not what you say the first week the man's been inaugurated.

On January 24, 2009, Russ Limbaugh stated in National Review that Obama's plan is to isolate elected republicans from their voters.... Put simply, he believes his stimulus is aimed at reestablishing eternal power for the Democratic Party rather than stimulating the economy.

This is the strangest kind of partisanship and very much out of sync with the direction most Americans have elected to go.

Partisan politics cannot be allowed to derail the very important things that need to be done now. We are Americans and all of us are in the same boat on a stormy sea.

Even in their worst moments, those who love this country would not wish a US President to fail. We want him to succeed because Americans want our country to succeed. The argument that real Americans will have is about how to make our country better, not how they hope to see it made worse.

Congressman Joe Sestak (D-PA) was an admiral in the U.S. Navy before being elected to the House of Representatives. He has fought in our wars and defended our country and taking no pride in Limbaugh's remarks, he said that the future of America is about all Americans succeeding. In a time of crisis, no patriotic American wanted President Roosevelt to fail; in the Cuban Missile crisis, no patriotic American wanted President Kennedy to fail; in Afghanistan, no patriot wanted President Bush to fail. How can anyone who cares about America want President Obama to fail? Should our Commander-in-Chief fail, our nation fails.

America, we have to be smart enough to recognize that now is the time to put aside political differences and work together to find solutions for America. We have to be smart enough to realize that if this President fails, the Republicans could inherit an even greater mess than the one they left him! This is reality and not rhetoric!