David Keene: White House crackdown on dissent means honeymoon is over
By: David Keene
OpEd Contributor
August 11, 2009
Americans are finally getting a good look at the man in the White House. They've been thrilled by his speeches, love his kids, and almost desperately want to believe he was who they hoped he was when they elected him. It turns out, however, that he simply can't tolerate disagreement.
In his view, those who disagree with him really ought to just shut up. His critics, after all, are the people responsible for the problems he was elected to solve, dupes and hirelings of those responsible, or dangerous kooks.
The administration has moved to discredit those who oppose his health care policies, for example, by labeling them neo-Nazis, right wing lunatics, or witting or unwitting tools of giant insurance companies. "I don't want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking," the President told a crowd of supporters in Virginia last week, "I want them to get out of the way."
His Congressional allies are parroting this line to explain the opposition to Obama's policies at town hall meetings. Some have cancelled these meetings altogether or are screening attendees to exclude the President's critics.
Meanwhile, "Health Care for America," a left-wing pressure group started by the likes of ACORN and the AFL-CIO last week issued advice to Obama supporters who might attend a meeting where someone actually musters the courage to question the wisdom of the Obama health reforms.
"We don't need to ... answer their accusations point by point. Instead, we should treat them as agents of the insurance lobbyists," says the group, adding: "The people who show up are far right ideologues recruited by paid organizers ... funded by industry lobbyists and public relations firms to engage radical rightwing groups."
The bottom line: Discredit the President's critics. And while you're at it, advises the group, help "friendly" Members of Congress by packing their meetings with friends and "shut down" hostile questioners by "chants that counter their message like "Health Care Can't Wait."
These tactics were nowhere more evident than at a recent town hall meeting in Tampa where union goons beat up one questioner and a Democratic Party official assaulted another. Amazingly, however, in spite of the threats, people are still showing up and daring to disagree. This has to worry politicians who have been forced to leave the sanitary bubble that is Washington to meet with actual voters.
The President, for his part, has asked his supporters to forward to the White House "fishy" emails from those questioning his policies. Questioned about whether the administration is collecting data on its opponents, the President's spokesman assured reporters that they just want to correct misleading information and have no intention of keeping an enemies list.
That may be, but the White House noted later that federal law requires all correspondence be kept. The whole affair could only have what the Supreme Court. refers to as "a chilling effect" both on free speech and on the functioning of a free and open democracy.
Whatever the case, it looks like the honeymoon is over.
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