The Upside of Inertia
Six months and counting, Obama’s Era of Change has reached a crucial point where the push against “politics as usual” has found a test case in health care reform
At his press conference last night, the President observed that “if you don’t set deadlines in this town, things don’t happen. The default position is inertia, because doing something always creates some people who are unhappy. There’s always going to be some interest out there that decides: You know what? The status quo is working for me a little bit better.”
In his struggles against deadlines in the stimulus bill, bank bailout, imminent downfall of Detroit et al, Barack Obama has been governing on a crisis high, where the dangers of doing nothing far outweigh the pitfalls of not getting it exactly right.
Now he is tilting against a health care dragon that has fed on half a century of greed, neglect and, yes, inertia, and his assault is being slowed not only by Republican reflexes as the Party of No but doubting Democrats and the slow erosion of public support for multiple proposals that have failed to cohere into a clear alternative to the current mess.
As the momentum for Change slows, the President may want to consider that inertia in American life has always worked both ways, as a deterrent to progress but also as a brake to driving off a cliff in the passions of the moment.
2 Responses to “The Upside of Inertia”
Ah, finally Robert, you've written something that's not entirely insane. Urgency is tough to come by on a boa constrictor issue like healthcare, and the hysterics on the left (tipping my hat to you, sir) do a valuable service by brandishing a socialist gun and attempting to hijack a sixth of the economy.
Hopefully we will not actually land in Cuba.
The Dems, who have been rushing to lunacy on issue after issue, have finally over-rushed. It's no surprise that all but the low tail of the bell curve is concerned about the costs and what else they may face if these people in Washington have their way. Sorry, kiddies, but this health care nonsense is a tough sell now.
“If you don't set deadlines in town…” a) Only the fools bought this. b) Buried well back in his campaign statement was a revision of his deadline-demand from “before the August recess” to now “this fall” if not “by the end of this year.” HE RELENTED AND RETREATED. Sorry, kiddies, but it's a tough sell.
Mature people know that “change” is not the same as “improvement,” and that frantic rushing for Change, for Change's Sake (which only foolish and childish people demand) is bad enough, but in the Dems' case, the change is worse — the opposite of improvement (as the “climate” legislation demonstrates, and which was widely opposed by the public, incidentally).