Unless you’ve been living on a remote island off the coast of Cuba for the past six months, the health care debate has saturated one (or many) aspects of your daily life. Whether you’ve taken your pitchfork to an Arlen Specter & Friends tea time, had your Sunday night television inundated with over-dramatized pictures of ambulances, heard the radio DJ attempt to explain “public option,” or have simply been spammed by David Axelrod (doesn’t that paint a terrible visual), chances are you’ve been exposed to dialogue as fiery as that of an Eagles’ fan at a Michael Vick press conference.
President Obama and his team half-heartedly vowed for “bipartisan reform” throughout this debate, but headlines today ring a different sentiment (or reveal a truth) in the Administration’s approach. I can envision liberals on the Hill grinding their teeth and scratching their feet in the dirt as their fearless (albeit ominous) conductor, WH Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, indicated the President was prepared to release them from their confines of democratic debate, compromise and cooperation. “The Republican leadership,” Mr. Emanuel said, “has made a strategic decision that defeating President Obama’s health care proposal is more important for their political goals than solving the health insurance problems that Americans face every day.” In other words, enough playing nice; get me my bag of dead fish.
The Doublespeak practiced by the Obama White House is mind-boggling. The Administration’s reckless habit of swaying with the political tide is offensive enough, but its answers when any individual member is caught misspeaking are defiant and insulting to any American with half of a brain. In an article criticizing the cocky attitude of Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Daily Beast‘s Lee Siegel explains that the President sees the American populace as an unteachable student who “just doesn’t get it.” He’s right. I don’t generally “get” smug contradictions. When the Health and Human Services Secretary goes on a Sunday talk show with one message, only to debunk her own point the following day, implying that anyone questioning her conflicting position is an enemy of the state, I feel as though I’m Winston Smith and we’re at war with Oceania, or was it Eurasia, or Eastasia? (Were we for the public option, or against it? How about the co-op? Isn’t that the same thing? No, we’re for the whole public option, aren’t we? That depends, what do Plouffe’s polls say this week? etc., etc.)
The Obama Team’s word fumbling weakens not just my own sanity, but the strength and coherence of the current debate. The candidate that cried for transparency now poisons the arena so successfully, that stories like a big deal cut with the drug lobbyists of PhRMA go under the radar. It must be nice to be President Obama. I’m sure Presidents from Johnson to Clinton would have given anything for the ability to leave the house with drug lobbyists in the morning, assail them as the villains of health care reform in the afternoon, then get back in bed with them in the evening, reassuring them with a Chicago-style shoulder lean that he’ll protect them from Congress if they’re badgered for lowering drug cost cuts by more than $80 billion. Even FDR had to deal with those pesky Southern Democrat defectors, although to be fair, he didn’t have to deal with Youtube videos revealing his radical stance on a single payer health care system.
While they waste their time running forward, backward and sideways with their positions, time is running out for President Obama and the Democrats in Washington. Despite all of their efforts to undermine points of contention, conduct deals behind closed doors and dismiss critics as “evil mongers,” Obama’s health care reform is in critical condition. As he and his allies see support wane and windows of opportunity close, we may see unwanted proposals shoved through Congress by one party in power through a scary process known as “reconciliation.” This is not good for reform and it is not good for the country. Even votes like the Iraq War were passed with a considerable amount of the minority party vote and look at how politicized they were circa 2004-06. He has a lot riding on this, I get it. But if he wants to do himself and the nation a favor and achieve “real reform,” then it’s time he slammed on the brakes and stopped distracting us with questions like “what should 2+2 be today” because no matter what, we all know that it’s four.
