The Bum Control Problem

Barack Obama came charging into office just thirteen months ago “fired up and ready to go”, with huge Congressional majorities and what they felt was a mandate to transform American society.  They told their voters that they wouldn’t pay a dimes’ more taxes (only the “rich” will pay more).  They flung billions of dollars in borrowed money at the banks, the auto industry, the teachers and public employees, they capped and traded and nearly nationalized our private health insurance system.  And their reward:  we hate it!

So much for “hope”.  It’s March, 2010 and we ain’t transformed.  28 million of us are either unemployed, out of the labor force or working part time involuntarily. Millions have lost their homes and are buried under a mountain of credit card debt.  The mood is ugly.

In crystal clear hindsight, it’s clear that 2008 wasn’t a “transformative” election- a mandate for government to save us from ourselves.  It was a “throw the bums out” election- a repudiation of George Bush and a venal, morally challenged Republican regime.

So, fifteen months later, the lynch mob is rallying and we’re getting ready to throw the Democrats out and hand control of Congress back to the Republicans!!?  Why?  What do they stand for? What are we going to get from them?  Do we trust them?  Are the bums we’re throwing back in going to be any more capable of governing or steering us in the right direction than the bums we’re throwing out?

What we’ve really got is a bum control problem.  At some point, we’re going to look in the mirror and see Clem Kadiddlehopper (above).  The real bums …  is us.

Braveheart!  The Obama Final Push on Health Reform

This is a momentous week for health reform.  The President’s proposals this morning do not appear to be game changing.  Rather, by making the bill more expensive and proposing direct federal regulation of health insurance premiums, he seems to have tacked to the left to  shore up his own base. If the goal was to rebrand “health reform”, this morning’s package doesn’t get it done.  It is a pastiche of cautious tweaks, with one modest populist call-out to a frustrated Democratic left wing still pining for a “public option”.

On Friday, the Newsweek poll  found that crucial independent voters OPPOSED “Obama’s health reform proposals” 62% to 29% in favor.  Nothing in the President’s plan seems likely to strengthen independent voter support for the process, or make it easier for the “running scared” Democratic moderates to vote for the bill.  Health reform is still an incomprehensible, wonkish mess only a mother could love.

At the same time as he is preparing a “summit” with Republicans, his political operatives appear to be preparing to ram a modified bill through the Senate under a parliamentary maneuver requiring only 51 votes.  I think the Republicans are being set up- trolled for a You Tube-worthy gaffe that the White House can use to blame the collapse of this process on Republicans. (Remember what Edward I did to the Scottish partisans he lured to a peace meeting?)

This isn’t about Republican obstructionism.  It is divisions inside the Democratic party that will doom health reform, unless Obama can rally his frightened troops.   Nobody can fault the President for his courage. It is a dangerous game he is playing.   We’ll see how many of his colleagues are ready to die on the hill of health reform.  . .

A POOR MAN’S 9-11

How else can we view the Joe Stack incident in Austin than as a terrorist act?  There are a lot of frustrated people in our country right now, and for good reasons.  However, to launch a one man martyrdom operation, and attempt to blow up a symbol of our “oppression” by our government with your Piper is madness.   This is a civil society, or used to be.  To hear opportunistic politicians or commentators attempting to rationalize the murder of innocent people on political grounds makes me sick!   This is a dangerous time- a time to remember the humanity and love that unites us.

WHY WE WON’T GET COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH REFORM THIS YEAR (in one slide)

The week before Scott Brown’s Massachusetts Senate victory, the Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll on health reform definitively nailed the public ambivalence with the process. As you can see from the chart, only 30% of those identifying themselves as Democrats strongly supported health reform, while 35% of independents (e.g. the people who elected Barack Obama) strongly opposed.  Overall, strong opponents outnumbered strong supporters 31% to 19%.  After a year, public opinion has hardened, and moderate Dems (e.g. those who need independent voter support to win re-election) see very clearly that they cannot ride this horse to victory. Ambivalent core voters and hostile independent:  time to refocus, reframe… and sharpen the immediate benefits.

A Teachable Moment Passes!

The main reason I voted for Obama was because I thought he’d be a good teacher.  The other night, he told Americans “Ordinary citizens who did nothing wrong were punished by the greed of our financial system” and I winced.   Who, exactly, forced Americans to take on $14 TRILLION in household debt?  That mountain of consumer debt, bundled and resold, and insured and reinsured, is what brought down our financial system.   We did it to ourselves!    Now voters are angry about massive government borrowing.  What about our OWN borrowing, our own gluttony… It’s sort of like blaming health insurers for our nation’s high health costs when a third of us are obese!