It's high time to hit the gong and remove that star-studded cast of Washington politicians from the infamous stage of Gitmo "Gotcha" politics. The "in" crowd must forget about, and stop using, the "out" crowd as an excuse for their indecisions.

President Obama, you are now the "American Idol" and center stage, and the entire world is expecting a "bravo" performance. However, if you want an encore when the curtain drops in 2012, you and your hand-picked cast must stop groveling and pandering to the whole wide world for its approval by opting to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay.

Change the operating procedures if you must, but don't close the prison. It's the ideal location for jailing terrorists and stops all the national and international gamesmanship of "not in my backyard." Best of all, it's already paid for.

Too much time, money and energy have been spent already on such a picayune enigma as Gitmo, when waiting in the wings are the real villains, i.e., Social Security, bailouts, health care, education, unemployment and wars. You have the talent, the "stimulus" and the printing press to overcome, so get real, stay focused and stop wasting time iterating idealistic, meaningless oratory like it's some kind of esoteric mantra capable of extracting approval from your somewhat envious and untrustworthy counterparts around the world.

Lastly, for your sake and our sake, forget about fawning, vacuous approvals. Stop apologizing, make the necessary hard decisions, and stop trying to change our beloved, resolute Uncle Sam into Little Miss Congeniality.

Harvey Thibodeau

Pinehurst