Hugh Hewitt
Hugh Hewitt: Desperate Democrats need new game plan
By: Hugh Hewitt
Examiner Columnist
August 10, 2009
"Grandma Got Run Over By Obama-care" is a satire by Perry Nunley of Randy Brook's classic Christmas song involving reindeer and eggnog from 30 years ago.
Inspired by the now famous viral video of an August 4 AARP "listening session" which was abruptly ended by the AARP's Nurse Ratched when the codgers wouldn't play ball, Nunley's take-off is just more evidence that the country is digesting the president's plan to radically rework American medicine and that the heartburn is real and growing.
If the seniors' revolt spreads, the plan is doomed, no matter how many dollars Big Pharma throws the DNC's way.
Democrats were eager for any good news after another rough week in which the Speaker of the House saw swastikas everywhere and triggered Godwin's law, and the DNC's Alinskyites tried to divert from her blunder with a ham-handed attempt to pin it on Rush.
Reeling, the president went to Virginia to try and aid the sinking Deeds campaign for governor and revive the administration's dreams of single-payer but delivered some lines that were instant classic examples of "Chicago bipartisanship."
"I don't want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking," the president graciously announced. "I want them just to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess." Perhaps the president forgets when the busted and broken Medicare and Medicaid systems were installed, but LBJ is already out of the way.
Staggered and worried, congressional Democrats spoke from various secure locations around the country about their reluctance to meet with constituents, especially the halt, the blind and the lame. Paul Krugman wept.
"Mr. Obama's backers seem to lack all conviction," Krugman moaned, "perhaps because the prosaic reality of his administration isn't living up to their dreams of transformation. Meanwhile, the angry right is filled with a passionate intensity."
Listener Brad e-mailed:
“Even a semi-literate like myself catches the lure-shinyness of what I think was William Butler Yeats:’The best lack all conviction, while the worst are filled with a passionate intensity.’
“What a sophomoric flourish. Really? The dark foreboding of Yeats as he watched the Europe of the 30s divide up into the dispirited and the maniacal. That's what Krugman sees from his forest ranger tower? Jeez Louise, talk about subtle code words! Why not be half the man that Nancy Pelosi is and make a bare swastika allegation?”
Obama's biggest problem other than over-wrought, panicked supporters and the revolt of the seniors? Americans with employer-provided insurance across the country beginning to realize by the millions that the president's guarantees about being able to keep your insurance and doctor are as reliable as his "72 hours on the internet" publication promise regarding pending legislation. Nixon White House tactics, plus Johnson White House credibility, do not a winning plan make.
Big Pharma gave the Dems some hope with a pledge of millions on behalf of ads touting the Canadian model beloved by President Red Pill/Blue Pill, which should signal to Republicans that Big Pharma no longer much objects to re-importation deals.
Dems need the money, of course, but what they really need is a plan that doesn't scare old folks, the parents of special needs children, and everyone with employer-based insurance they like. Then they need a way to gag the CBO.
Perhaps the president will ask Hillary to send the reset button over to the White House. At this point, if the president does jam it through, not only will he wreck American health care, he'll greatly damage the Democratic Party in 2010 and 2012.
Wise Blue Dogs might want to ask Pelosi understudy Steny Hoyer how he'd like a turn in the Big Chair accompanied by a delay until data arrives on the November votes on two Democratic statehouses in two states carried by the president just 10 months ago -New Jersey and Virginia.
Republicans Christopher Christie and Robert McDonnell enjoy double digit leads over their Obama-endorsed opponents, a result that would surprise if Obama-care triggered more than panic and song parodies among observers.
Examiner columnist Hugh Hewitt is a law professor at Chapman University Law School and a nationally syndicated radio talk show host who blogs daily at HughHewitt.com.
More from Hugh Hewitt
Follow The Examiner
