Obama is on another media tour; this one to try, try again to pass $1.X trillion Obamacare.
(The “X” is a reference to the fact that the ten year “cost” of the bill includes 10 years of taxes but only 4-6 years of spending.)
Tuesday, at one stop on the tour, Obama boldly proclaims in his signature “I’m just like you” mannerism:
“I’ve said to the Republicans; show me what you’ve got. You’ve been sitting on the sidelines criticizing what we’re proposing…you got a better idea, bring it on.”
Here’s a link to a fairly detailed proposal from the House Ways and Means Republican Committee. It’s dated November 5th, 2009. That’s almost three months before Obama’s latest claim that the Republicans have been sitting on the sidelines all this time. Of course, it’s also about 3 months before Obama made the same nihilist accusation on national television during his State of the Union address.
Now, I’m not supporting Republicans and especially not the Republican plan. I frankly think there is a strong case to make that government – especially the Federal government – should focus more on governing and less on extra-curricular activities that don’t seem to pop up in the Constitution (”interstate commerce” springboarding notwithstanding), be it healthcare or energy or any of the innumerable other decidedly non-governing roles we now pay big government to play.
However, it’s disingenuous to say the least to confuse opposition to a colossal expansion of government with nihilism or obstructionism. The Republicans are deliberately opposing Obamacare as a means, not an end. That definitionally is not nihilism. The intended end is the protection of healthcare, Americans’ freedom, and the fruits of Americans’ labor that would otherwise be destroyed by Obama and Obamacare. Oh, and probably the fiscal integrity of the nation as well as a prayer in hell to pay for the existing socialist programs we’re already saddled with (medicaid, social security, and medicare – including Bush’s prescription drug plan). It’s one thing to disagree over what the end should be, but it’s just another partisan lie from Obama to claim the Republicans are obstructionist nihilists as a function of that disagreement.
It’s a whole other lie to claim “the other guys” haven’t proposed a plan when they, in fact, have done exactly that. To try to sell that lie to the American people repeatedly is a real head-scratcher and to hear people repeat it makes me feel like an Orwellian character.
Tags: deceit and politics, Healthcare, Obama, obamacare, propaganda