Promises and Threats
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The
president's
speech to a
joint
session of
Congress
Wednesday
evening was
full of Obamacare
promises.
Mostly they
were the
oft-repeated,
yet-to-be
clarified
claims
that have
remained so
loosely
defined, by design, to allow for
more
palatable
phraseology
as the
latest poll
results and
logical
arguments
may demand.
But his
"impassioned"
teleprompter
address was
also laced
with
threats.
The threats,
in the form
of
ultimatums,
were issued
to both
conservative
and
progressive
opponents of
the various
elements of
the bill.
In so many
words the
president
repeated
that he is
not about to
take "no" for
an answer
and that
"not another
year" will
be allowed
to pass
before some
form --
apparently
any form -- of his
initiative
is signed
into law.
Whereas
liberals and
neo-lib
progressives
were
somewhat
inspired, if
not
placated, by
the
president's crocodile
tears during
the reading
of
a posthumous
letter from
Teddy
Kennedy,
Conservatives
were offered
no
consolation
prize.
Obama's
repeated
admonitions
to support
his plan
or get out
of the way
when the
steamroller
shows up
summed up
his
willingness
to
compromise.
So
incendiary and disingenuous were many of the
president's comments that an otherwise
soft-spoken veteran congressman from South
Carolina, Rep. Joe Wilson, was unable to stifle
a loud cry of "You lie!" when Obama denied that
universal coverage would be extended to
so-called undocumented immigrants.
Most
cogently stated are
Rep. Michele Bachmann's comments on Obama's
speech. "Divisive", "partisan", "dismissive" and
"angry" are among the words she uses to describe
the tone of his desperate pitch.
Ironically,
Obama's most incredible promise, as well as his
most significant threat, were both stated within a short
three-sentence snippet from his
typically lengthy rant:
"I
will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our
deficits -- either now or in the future. Period.
And to prove that I’m serious there will be a
provision in this plan that requires us to come
forward with more spending cuts if the savings
we promised don’t materialize."
The
pie-in-the-sky promise inherent in this
statement has already been debunked by the
Congressional Budget Office. Many critics
point to the relatively uncomplicated,
insignificant Cash for Clunkers program that
ended up costing the taxpayers more than three
times the originally estimated price tag.
They also reference the ineffectiveness of the
stimulus program and unemployment
under-estimates as reasons to question this
administration's ability to predict the results
of anything.
Since
the promise part of the statement might only be
keep-able by enacting huge spending cuts -- most
likely in combination with tax increases -- if
those cuts were limited only to health
care-oriented spending, decreased quality of
care, rationing and the death panels that have
been a large part of the plan's criticism would
eventually come to pass.
But
the term "spending cuts" is not defined and so
it is likely that Obama would cut spending in
non-socialistic areas before any others.
Our national defense is most likely, therefore,
to be compromised -- a most sobering thought on
this anniversary of al Qaida's attack on the
United States of America.
Just as the
promises and threats
are summed up in three short sentences of the
president's speech, the lies and truth of
Obamacare are condensed into another snippet:
"These are the facts. Nobody disputes them. We
know we must reform this system. The question is
how."
Each
of the alleged facts are, of course, highly
disputable. That is precisely why there
has been so much and such a heated protest of this
reform for reform's sake; reform for the sake of
one man's legacy.
Six
truthful words were spoken during the 48 minutes
of the president's address. Four by the
president: "The question is how." and two
by Congressman Wilson: "You lie!"