Americans stand at the crossroads. Waving them down one road is radio commentator Rush Limbaugh. Beckoning them along a different path is newly elected President Barack Obama. To me the choice is a no-brainer. But Republican senators (and a few conservative Democrats) seem confused.

While most of us anxiously await the passage of Obama’s plan to pull the economy out of its nosedive, Limbaugh is urging the plan’s defeat. And some Senate members are finding excuses to vote against it. They are obviously afraid of Limbaugh. The blustering bully has admitted that he wants the Obama Administration to fail, plunging the nation into even greater despair, because he thinks that would end “liberal” policies in America.

Incredibly, Limbaugh has a huge audience. And his listeners, who admit to being “ditto-heads,” unthinkingly follow his far-right exhortations. But I have a word of caution to the senators who would take Limbaugh’s path: Voters rejected those far-right policies in the November elections. That’s a big reason Obama was elected and Democrats won overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate.

Here’s another news item that should give the obstructionists pause: A recent national survey found the stimulus plan backed by 62 per cent and opposed by 28 per cent of respondents. The package was even more popular in the 13 states that will have competitive Senate races in 2010; in those states, the plan was supported by 64 per cent and opposed by only 26 per cent.

If I were a member of the Senate, I would think long and hard before trying to block the Obama stimulus plan. I wouldn’t want to join the swelling ranks of the America’s unemployed.