In the city of Chicago "politics" is done very differently than in much of the rest of the nation. Evidently in tiring of hearing from "we the people," the current administration has a political death wish. Many of the prominent capitol hill leaders seem determined to join Obama and company as they plummet fully another sixth of the American economy into the eternal abyss. But we would not be at this point if President Obama had not broken very specific promises.
Most specifically he has broken his constant pledges from the campaign trail to be a different kind of leader. He pledged to be a leader who listened to those who elected him. He even pledged on the night he won the vote to listen to those who opposed him. Yet in this final week, he is listening to no one, and doing so at our great peril.
Voices from the center, left and right have barraged their Senators offices indicating their displeasure with the lack of transparency on the process (meeting in closed room sessions) and substance (the bill has not yet even been fully written and the Senators know "enough" to vote on it) of the Health Care legislation. Yet it was Obama's iron fist, his nasty scowl, and his hard-core Chicago bullying that was most interestingly revealed this week.
President Obama was willing to play games with America's safety in threatening Nebraska's Ben Nelson that a strategic and vital military base, one that is responsible for heavy lifting on America's continental security, would be shut down if Nelson did not vote with him. President Obama was going to put a bullet in the operations of our national security simply to score a point, serve a little vengeance, and punish with a little payback. We know this from a memo that was leaked and we also know that it wasn't the only time in recent history such tactics have been employed by Obama.
Congressional Democrats stepped forward this week fessing up that if they had not voted with the President's legislation, that the administration had informed them, it would be watching, and that the administration was "keeping score."
In a very real sense this is exactly what Obama is doing to the nation as a whole.
There is no majority of American people that believe this bill is sound. There is no majority of American people that believe this bill is helpful. There is no majority of American people that believe it will bring down costs. And we've learned from the Congressional Budget office that earliest estimates indicate they will go up significantly.
Presently, even with all the problems of the uninsured walking into emergency rooms America provides health services to everyone within its borders. The cost of how we do it now is roughly 1.3 trillion dollars. The cost of Obamacare is conservatively estimated at tipping 4 trillion dollars... to cover the exact same number of people.
Obama's pride has been injured greatly throughout this year. He has failed at nearly everything possible in office, except exporting our tax dollars to pay for abortions overseas--that he did swiftly.
His Olympic, Nobel, and Global Warming endeavors have verged on the utterly ridiculous, and the man's pride is hurt.
If he does not accomplish Health Care he will have gone one full year without any significant accomplishment. Gitmo is still open, soldiers are still in Iraq, more are headed to Afghanistan.
His pledge to produce a healed economy and a better jobs picture is equally laughable in that he's made both worse. For 49 out of 50 states have LOST jobs since the stimulus was passed.
In Copenhagen this week, he lashed out at China, and got made fun of by the only new allies he's made in office. Fidel Castro, one of his heroes, called him "ignorant," and Hugo Chavez said he still smelled of Satanic sulfur.
Now, when poll after poll across America demonstrate that two-thirds of the American people are solidly against Obamacare, (and who knows if the final third even know anything about it or else that number could easily be higher), the President is ready to jam it down American's throats.
So delicate Mr. President... nice job.
Threatening his friends, shutting out his opponents, and getting laughed at on the world stage (for the third time in his first year), has to take a toll on a real man eventually.
Unfortunately when someone from Chicago's south side gets that emotionally backed up it usually ends with flying bullets and someone's brother lying dead in a pool of their own blood.
Let's hope for our own sake that President Obama remembers that he works for us, his brothers and sister. And that in the end we do not want him to be his "brother's keeper."
Context people, it changes the meaning of everything!