Who is running this show?

I will admit I am a biased observer.  I am a conservative’s conservative and I don’t try to hide that.  I believe that what Pres. Obama and the Democrats on the Hill are trying to do with healthcare in this country is just plain wrong.  It is bad for our healthcare system and it is bad for our country.  I don’t like anything the Democrats have done since they took control of Washington.  With all of that said, none of it is unexpected.  I am not a Democrat and, as such, I wouldn’t expect to be happy with what Democrats do in Washington.  I am surprised, though, at the complete ineptness they have demonstrated since arriving.

I thought President Obama was a marvelous politician back during the campaign.  Now, I wonder if it was not just seeing him next to John McCain with a backdrop of George W. Bush that made him look so good.  What exactly has he been doing since he got to Washington?

Let’s see… he began by signing an executive order declaring that he would shut down Guantanamo Bay (still open.) He moved on to spend a LOT of money with bailout number two (just more of a George Bush policy.) He bought out General Motors and appointed a figurehead to run it for him.  After all of this intervention, the economy is turning around in a hurry, isn’t it? Oh wait, now the White House is telling us don’t look at the latest unemployment numbers because they’re just the result of a particularly harsh Winter. (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0111549320100301?type=marketsNews) Yeah, it’s been cold.  Oh wait, the Earth is warming at an alarming rate.  So alarming that the EPA needs to step in and regulate CO2 as a pollutant.  You know, the gas that every human being exhales and is required for the survival of any green plant.  Yeah, it’s a pollutant.

Now, the big crown jewel of it all, we get to healthcare.  This reform is so urgent that we are going to pass it without reading it! I mean, it’s 2000 pages, I’m sure lots of people would die in the time it took to read it.  Somebody didn’t get the word to the people of the United States that it is so urgent, though, because 50% disapprove of the bill while only 40% approve. (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/obama_and_democrats_health_care_plan-1130.html) That’s all because the evil Republicans told lies to the American people about the bill, they say.  Yeah, because the American people obviously don’t really know what they are talking about.  They can’t, if they did, they would agree with you.

That’s why, in the State of the Union Address, Pres. Obama highlighted the need to go out and talk to the people.  He valiantly took the blame for not communicating the bill clearly enough to the American people.  If they just understood, they would like it.  They have to!

So, it would make sense that he would try to be as open as possible with the bill, right? Well, sort of … except for the fact that it was created in closed-door committee hearings with all kinds of backroom deals and, when Pres. Obama proposed his own solution in preparation for the Healthcare Summit, he made sure not to release enough information in time for the Congressional Budget Office to score it so they would know how much it cost.

What does how much it costs matter, anyway? It’s only going to cost a $1,000,000,000,000 over the next decade when we have a system full of entitlements going bankrupt already and a national debt that is completely out of control.  Pres. Obama knows this.  He finds it to be such a grave concern that he promised to freeze spending (except on the top three or four most expensive programs the government operates) and … wait for it … form a commission! *GASP!*

Back to healthcare… so after being so open with the American people about the bill and trying so tirelessly to show them all the evil lies the Republicans have been perpetrating on them, the American people still don’t like the bill.  So what’s next? Reconciliation!

It’s so great! All we have to do is get a simple majority in the Senate and it passes. Great! Except, it’s never been used on anything like this and wasn’t intended to.  (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704625004575089362731862750.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines) It is an excuse to force a bill on the American people that they clearly do not want.  It is a clear case of the President doing exactly what he wants because he knows better than the American people do.  "I do not know how this plays politically, but I know it's right.” For those of you who don’t speak politician, he basically just said that he doesn’t know whether or not the people will support this bill or not, but he is going to do it anyway.

Ok. So what? They are going to try to pass an unpopular bill.  Well, let’s see what else we have in the news today.

He has appointed the brother of a previously no-vote and now undecided on healthcare legislation to the 10 Circuit Court of Appeals. (http://weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-now-selling-appeals-court-judgeships-health-care-votes)

Joe Sestak, Democratic Congressman, has publically claimed that he was promised a federal job to quit his primary challenge of Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania. (http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_stories/20100219_Sestak_says_federal_job_was_offered_to_quit_race.html)

A Democratic Congressman has retired amid allegations of sexual abuse.(http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/33864.html)

Democrat Charles Rangel finally gave up his gavel as Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee despite some hypocritical ambivalence from Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/03/01/2010-03-01_pelosis_defense_of_rangel_is_tepid_at_best.html)

So, I ask, who is running this show? Democrats have had the largest majority in both chambers of Congress we have seen in quite some time.  They have a President who, at the time of his election, most people could have sworn walked on water.  What have they done this whole time?  It looks to me like a whole lot of nothing.  Now, they are resorting to the worst kind of power-grabbing and forcefulness to get healthcare legislation through Congress and exhibiting all of the qualities of a group thirsting for power.

It’s time to get these clowns out of office and get somebody new in the game.  I’m not sure that Republicans will fix any of it but they sure can’t do any worse.