The Cat is Out of the Bag
Posted on February 19, 2010
In the New York Times today, a Democratic aide let the cat of out of the bag. He admitted that the Democrats are making plans to go with the reconciliation option in the Senate to pass their very unpopular health care plan.The President invited Republicans to have a much publicized discussion about their ideas on health care just as his team is making plan to ignore those ideas.
This reminds me of Adolph Hitler inviting Neville Chamberlain to discuss what to do about Czechoslovakia just as he was making plans to invade the country.
Now, I am not comparing Obama to Hitler, nor am I comparing GOP Leaders to Chamberlain. Obama is no Hitler, and Boehner is no Chamberlain, and Rush Limbaugh is no Winston Churchill.
But the level of dishonesty of this so-called “summit” is very similar.
Just as we suspected, the President is trying to set up the Republicans. He wants to embarrass them, to make them look like obstructionists, so that he can go ahead and do what he wants to do anyway. Jam a health care bill down the throats of the American people.
Not only is this a fundamentally dishonest strategy, it is a fundamentally flawed political strategy. Unlike Hitler, who had a highly functioning army at his command, Obama is trying to direct the gang that can’t shoot straight. The Democrat leadership in both chambers is completely out of touch with what the American people want when it comes to health care.
The people think the bills in both the House and the Senate are too expensive and way too complicated. They think the taxes are too high, the mandates are too unfair and the risks are too great to their own health care plans. They don’t want what the Democrats currently have in this bill.
And so what does the President do? He comes up with a strategy to first embarrass Republicans who share the concerns of most Americans, and to second, jam this bill through the Senate.
The President, who only spent a few years in the Senate before he decided that he deserved a promotion, will do irreparable harm to the Upper Chamber if he signs on to this cynical and stupid strategy.
I used to think that the Republicans had no choice but to take up the President’s invitation to jointly appear with him at this health care summit. But now I am having second thoughts. What’s the point if the Democrats have already decided to play hard ball on reconciliation?