I imagine a cartoon of Barack Obama holding aloft the tiniest scrap of paper in his hand and exclaiming to the gathered throng that we have pushed through health care reform of monumental significance. Or another one of him, holding a sow's ear, with a caption, "trying to make a silk purse".
It seems that the power of hope has somewhere been misplaced. In the maze of bureaucratic red tape, special interest groups, media's distorted view of fair and balanced (giving equal time to nonsense), we have lost our way. Environmental changes have been watered down, or put on the back burner. We have learned of the abuses of the Bush administration but seem resigned to doing little or nothing about them. We are closing Guantanamo but can't even find a place to put the prisoners.We have seen the financial markets abused to the point of collapse, but for those who were the worst sinners it is still business as usual. And yet all of these disappointments seem to pale in relation to the failure to move the health care issue where it should be directed.
It appears that the President is either unwilling, or in an even worse scenario, unable to counter the forces that align against him. He is making deals with pharmaceutical companies that appear to do little more than allow them unfettered ability to continue to charge outrageous sums for their products. The lobbyists for the insurance companies have forced the President to discuss abandoning the only real prospect we have for trying to keep these companies in line. The replacement concept of some "co-op" that could seriously put a dent in the status quo for the insurers seems a remote and unrealistic possibility.
We don't seem to be governed by those who should be governing us. I imagine yet another cartoon of Obama standing in the corner, small and alone, while those that now seem to have the upper hand are gathered together large and imposing. They ask the question of him "Do you have anything else up your sleeve, or is that the best you can do?". We are waiting for the President to give them, and us, the answer we want to hear. For the moment, he seems to be saying nothing.
4 comments:
my excitment of Obama's election, with Democratic majority, meant to me, that we now can get national healthcare, and the reversal of
bush's stupid policies. But, Obama seems afraid to stand up to the left. I am very dissapointed !!
We are, at best, uncertain, as to the course that the President has taken. Let's hope he sees something that we don't, and is making inroads that are not apparent to the public.
Otherwise, disappointed may be too weak a word to express how we feel if and when watered down legislation is passed.
The time is getting nigh when we democrats need to stop blaming Bush and take a good look at ourselves. After wresting power from a bunch of idiot republicans, and with a clear majority in both houses of congress, we are proving to be just as inept and incompetent as our predecessors. Obama hath not the power, experience, nor the will to lead. More and more he is starting to remind me of one term Jimmy Carter, another intellectual guy without a clue who ran a great campaign but couldn't lead.
Linus said it best "I have seen the enemy and he is us."
It is not time to jump ship, but it may be time to look around to see where the life preservers are.
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