Karen, did you ever stop and wonder if just maybe you have the question backwards???  Perhaps you should be publicly questioning Why won't Bush work with President-elect Obama.  Maybe it's Bush who is protecting his legacy and does not want to be seen in the last hours of his presidency turning to his overwhelmingly elected Democratic successor for help in solving the country's economic issues.  It would be blatant interference for Obama to interject himself into Bush's management of the country's affairs without invitation before he is innaugurated.  Like it or not, Bush still is the sitting president and he could certainly publicly call on Barack Obama to help, but he hasn't, has he?  As for cabinet appointments, I am sure he has a short list and I am sure that he has extended invitations... but did you ever consider that the details of their acceptance may not be final and he would take a lot of flack for publicly announcing cabinet members who have not agreed to serve yet?  He has been President-elect for less than a week... in a non-bureaucratic organization, employment agreements take longer than that to finalize... can you imagine what it is like the highly bureaucratic federal government?  Let's be reasonable, fewer than 5 days after the election your criticisms are simply unfair.

Karen, I did read the whole post. 

You state "If President-elect Obama wants to unite and have cooperation between the Democratic and Republican party, why isn't he having meetings with President Bush to try and help the Americans, the USA to restructure this debacle that has occurred in the USA?"  Is that really your idea of an unbiased question? Where is your balancing question about if Bush is really trying to solve the economic matters then why hasn't HE reached out to Obama for assistance?  You see, you say in your response that you are asking why both sides cannot find a way to work together but most of your questions place blame or responsibility on President-elect Obama when the reality is that protocol requires George Bush to ask for Obama's assistance and he has not done that.

Karen, it's perfectly fine to be upset with the state of our country's economy, I certainly am.  And it's perfectly understandable to hold firmly to your party's positions, but attacking any president-elect as being ineffective or uncaring after fewer than 5 days and before he is in office is unfair.  However, being ineffective after 8 years in office is another story!

As for your PERSONAL attack on me in the final line of your response, I will simply say that my statements were limited to the opinions you posted publicly for comment.  Your final comment was about me as a PERSON and was uncalled for.

Paul... thank you for your comment.  It's most appreciated and I am always glad that on ActiveRain I can count on others with similar views to stand with and support me.

As Karen pointed out, she and I have a history of healthy political disagreement.  It can get passionate on both sides and when it does we happily apologize to each other if we cross a line and the other happily forgives.  She's a nice person and an excellent professional.  We don't always agree on politics but I respect the strength of her beliefs.