WE'VE FINALLY GOT HEALTHCARE, HALLELUJAH:
ALL THE GOP CAN CONJURE
IS THE BOGEYMAN!
Hallelujah! They got it done.
I'll be the first to admit I was skeptical about the way Obama went
about catering to the Republicans, who strung him along for over a year.
But enough was enough, and with their huge congressional majority in
jeopardy come November without a major success under their belts, the
Democrats played the kind of hard ball the Republicans have been
employing for years.
Except instead of respect for what their colleagues achieved, the GOP
leadership whined in sore loser fashion and showed their true colors up
to and including the final showdown on Capitol Hill. Rep. Jean Schmidt
(R-Ohio) moaned with indignation about the rights of the unborn, when
it's been clear over the years through the policies of most Republican
administrations that once folks are born they couldn't care less.
Whether it's healthcare, jobs programs, the environment, social
programs or civil rights, the Republicans have long been the naysayers,
stubbornly clinging to mindsets that are honor bound to protect their
fat cat patrons or right wing holier than thou protectionists.
With the barest of majorities in congress and a president who lost
the popular vote they had no problem at all ramming an unnecessary and
costly war down our throats -- a conflict that contributed to the
financial morass we're currently in and, worse, killed or maimed so many
thousands who actually breathed and lived among us.
They enacted financial legislation in support of mega corps and
billionaires in the form of tax cuts and reduced business regulation,
but have suddenly become cost-conscious when the beneficiaries are
average Americans who are denied health coverage, hospitalization,
medical procedures and drugs because they can't afford insurance.
Why is it that Americans only see Republicans' true colors when their
results are catastrophic, as in the case of the unending wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan and the financial crises of the last couple of years? And why can't they see through the overly righteous moral indignation
and outrage expressed by GOP lawmakers and governors, usually most
evident against policies that are designed to help their fellow men and
women?
Democrats in the main sometimes tilt at windmills but in attempting
to do so seek the betterment of society as a whole. Republicans in
contrast are oft engaged in skewing public relations in a false manner
to scare people off or divert attention from the real truths, as when
George H.W. Bush defeated Michael Dukakis and his thoughtful platform
mostly by continually reciting the Pledge of Allegiance -- what tangible
benefit to our citizenry was accomplished by that? -- and making it appear the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee was soft on crime,
because of the Willy Horton freak incident that could have happened on
any leader's watch.
The GOP was at it again Sunday night. This time, I was doubly
outraged when House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) shouted
"Shame on this body" in a dramatically raised, booming voice very
reminiscent of Elmer Gantry. He kept harping how it wasn't the right
time now that the nation was in such horrible economic straits -- never
admitting it was the GOP which had mostly caused it all -- and never
explained how, when the economy was doing well and the Republicans were
in charge, they hadn't done anything about healthcare then.
It was urged that "comity" be restored to the legislative body, yet
"comity" was not the concern of the GOP House Leadership, which went
ahead with the trumped up and wasteful impeachment of President Bill
Clinton in 1998, a purely political move they all knew had no chance of
success.
Then, in a desperate ploy, many GOP speakers expressed "dire"
warnings about President Obama's Executive Order underscoring no federal
funding of abortion, issued as a guarantee to anti-abortion House
Democrats. One by one, Republican doomsayers said it was not worth the
paper it was written on, because the president could undo the action at
will. Perhaps the next day was uttered more than once as they tried to
erect this faux bogeyman. That this was absurd if it actually occurred
-- because it would only harm Obama's credibility and future programs --
didn't concern these GOP folks whose only aim was to deflect public
opinion in favor of their point of view. The truth has lately not been
the arrow of choice in the Republican quiver.
And as a further demonstration of GOP hypocrisy when it comes to
"comity," Congressman Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) shouted "Baby Killer"
when Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich), who'd led the anti-abortion Democratic
contingent, spoke in favor of the healthcare bill. It shows how low the
opposition has stooped. They have until recently been so used to
getting their own way, in spite of the means they came to leadership,
that they resort to behavior akin to a small child's tantrum when they
no longer can.
Well, they lost, and again I'll say Hallelujah! It's now the law of
the land, as Wolf Blitzer said on CNN, a line repeated on the broadcast
networks NBC, CBS and ABC, in the New York Times, the Washington
Post and bandied about on Facebook, Twitter and in video replays
on YouTube. As the American people get used to it and see that the sky
won't be falling, they will once again embrace the Obama agenda. His
success will beget others: appropriate bank legislation, jobs
initiatives, environmental protections and the inevitable official
integration of gay Americans into our armed services, where millions
have already served in the shadows.
I'm bursting with pride that America is now not only the strongest
nation in the world, but more importantly, that it has finally taken a
major step to join its sister nations abroad, who've already adopted so
many of these moral imperatives.
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