The Fake Bipartisanship of Changes to Obamacare
At least since last fall, when polls showed that the momentum in the health care debate among the American people, was against a radical overhaul of the kind Washington Democrats are proposing, the president (and his partisan allies) have been projecting their views onto their fellow citizens. Today, the Associated Press reports:
Declaring the nation is “waiting for us to act” after a year of debate, President Barack Obama urged Congress Wednesday to enact his signature health care legislation swiftly. He said it now contains the best ideas from both political parties.
Um, actually, no, Mr. President, most polls show that Americans would rather you didn’t act on the type of proposals you’ve been pushing. We’re are more concerned, much more, about jobs and deficits.
Still, he presses on, even pretending to be bipartisan:
In a bit of political sleight of hand, Obama said he might include four GOP-sponsored ideas in his plan, even though virtually no one in Congress or the White House thinks it will procure a single Republican vote.
Might include? Might? Yeah, that is a sleight of hand. Even if he does include these ideas, they will be little more than window-dressing. He’ll be pasting them on his proposal to make it look bipartisan, but won’t be eliminating any of the program’s regulatory aspects which limit our freedoms and most concern Republicans.
It would be one thing to include Republican ideas while sitting down at the table with Republicans as he crafts a bill, but quite another to pick and choose among them–without changing the overall program. It’s like a chef, determined to bake a cake as the main course for a meal, responding to concerns that he prepare more healthy fare by topping his cake off with spinach–and maybe using yogurt in the frosting.
But, it’s still a cake–and not a healthy meal, despite a few nutritious ingredients included in the revised recipe.
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Let’s see. The *best* idea from Republicans on this has been… market reform. I.e., free people operating in free markets. And the “best” idea from Democrats on this has been… mandates. I.e. government coercion. The bill now combines them both? Really, Mr. Obama?
It reminds me of something. Maybe a speech from a bad guy, in book I read?
Nah!
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — March 3, 2010 @ 1:49 pm - March 3, 2010
How can they say that when he’s had nothing to do with crafting the legislation?
Comment by ThatGayConservative — March 3, 2010 @ 3:41 pm - March 3, 2010
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Pingback by Right-Wing Links (March 3, 2010) — March 3, 2010 @ 4:29 pm - March 3, 2010