Stupidity as a Pre-Existing Condition
The rowdiness will no doubt subside, but could civility save the “debate” over health care? The signs are not encouraging.
Today the President devotes part of his weekly address to “dispelling the outlandish rumors that reform will promote euthanasia, cut Medicaid, or bring about a government takeover of health care.
“That’s simply not true. This isn’t about putting government in charge of your health insurance; it’s about putting you in charge of your health insurance.”
A Republican rebuttal comes from the newly liberated Sarah Palin on her Facebook page:
“The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel’ so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of ‘their level of productivity in society,’ whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.”
As Obama and Democratic Congress members spend time and energy treating such stupidity as a pre-existing condition, the real issues in health care reform may be quietly being bartered away behind the usual closed doors.
A perfect example surfaces with news that the Administration had assured lobbyists that “any health care overhaul would not include allowing direct government negotiation of drug prices or require certain additional price rebates.”
Now that this deal has gone public, the Obama White House is backpedaling away from it, but…
6 Responses to “Stupidity as a Pre-Existing Condition”
The President is responsible for educating the public and unfortunately he has been pretty weak in this regard. He has not made national TV addresses to outline all the major goals of reforming healthcare. He has allowed Congress to wander all over the place and critics to dominate the discussion. He seems to be operating as if he were in a law class at Harvard or Univ. of Chicago. The socratic method does not work in the real world, and you need to play nasty, dirty and very assertive politics. I see the President afraid of staking out any major or even detailed policy positions for fear of losing popularity. Actually his drop in the polls reflects his silence on major issues of the day. He has to be more assertive and controlling or others will sweep him out of power quite quickly. I agree that misinformation and general stupidity are pervasive problems but that did not stop the Roosevelts, Reagans, or Johnsons when they were Presidents in the past. I don't want my Presidents to be likeable or loveable but to be smart, effective and respected. President Obama is being torn between the 2 and he can't be both extremes. Always enjoy your posts – another regular TMV blogger in Phoenix, MP
One fact keeps jumping out. The American people in the majority do not want a partisan healthcare bill, they want a truly bipartisan one and until they have one they will not be comfortable. The Democrats have enough members of Congress that they could pass it without any republican support, but they haven't. They can't even sell it to enough of their own party, how are they going to sell it to the majority of Americans?
The answer is, they wont, not until they scrap the partisan approach and make a real and determined effort at bipartisanship with the liberal wing of the Democratic party taking a back seat to the more moderate members of the democratic party.
The Republicans never let facts stand in the way of their opposition. Calling them 'death panels' is catchy. nowhere near anything truthful, but catchy. It'll be easy for Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, et al to use and rile up the great, largely ignorant, masses.
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