The individual mandate in the health care law was originally proposed by the Heritage Foundation, the most conservative think tank in the country. It was supported by almost every Republican in the country, including the first President Bush, Mitt Romney and conservative stalwarts like Orrin Hatch. Simply put, it was a conservative idea. There is no question about that; it is a fact.
Let me immediately digress to point out how terrible our media is since about 2% of the country knows that fact. If you asked the average American now, I'm sure they would say it was a liberal idea originally proposed by Barack Obama. Another fact -- Barack Obama was originally opposed to the mandate during his campaign for president.
So, this brings us to the central problem with President Obama's administration. They were under the unbelievably mistaken impression that if they worked with the Republicans, compromised with them and gave them what they wanted, that the Republicans would react likewise. Progressives (and anyone that was paying attention to politics in the last decade) warned them that would not be the case. We were dismissed. Now look at what's happened.
Not only did the Republicans not thank the president for including their mandate in the health care law, they have turned around and pretended they are against it. But of course it goes much deeper than that. In fact, they are now using it as the principal argument to take down the whole law.
They have no sense of shame or propriety. They're not embarrassed at their legendary hypocrisy and mendacity. They will do whatever it takes to win and support the corporate interests they are sworn and paid to defend. They also know that Democrats, generally speaking, are horrible at defending themselves and the media will help them tremendously by calling everything even.
So, we warned the president -- don't ever, ever agree with the Republicans, they will only use it against you. I must have said this on our show a hundred times over the last three years. It's not because Republicans are always wrong or I am always opposed to compromise. It's because we've seen this movie -- it's a trap. It's like the feckless, young girl walking outside into the barn at night in a horror movie -- bad idea, we know how that ends. She is not going to be able to compromise with Jason. Jason is going to rip her face off. Don't go into the frickin' barn!
And now we wait as the Supreme Court is getting ready to rip the face off President Obama's signature legislation because he thought the Republicans would appreciate it if he switched his position and adopted their mandate. They must have laughed long and hard. Now they ready their steely knives to gut that same law with the same provision they argued in favor of for decades.
President Obama thought compromise, conciliation and agreement with Republicans was the correct path in his first term. He was dead wrong. The correct course is to be as progressive as possible and argue strongly for your own principles (if you have them). The country is on your side. Look at almost any poll on any issue, the country sides with the progressive position -- tax the rich, stop the wars, don't cut Social Security or Medicare, and on and on.
And after all this, I'm not sure President Obama has learned anything at all from this debacle. He now says he's sure they'll work with him if he gets a second term. Come on! Didn't we just see this movie?
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http://grist.org/politics/supremes-obamacare-ruling-what-me-worry-why-we-worry/
You don't compromise with an unthinking, malevolent force (in this case Republicans). Obama keeps wanting to be "Mr. Nice Guy" and talk as if Republicans aren't the worst thing this country has experienced the last 10 years.
Obama, quit calling Republican's "good patriots just trying to do what's right" or lose the election. Because they aren't doing the same for you.
I just wish that today's Republicans would just own up to the fact that Obama implemented healthcare reforms that have historically been in the exclusive realm of conservative political thought for decades now.
It's only when the Democrats propose the same thing the GOP would have only 2 decades ago, that they get slammed as partisan leftists. This does not bode very well for our political system.
It's just very disturbing to see that the political "center" of this country has shifted so radically to the Right so recently!
Yet Obama does go into the barn, seemingly oblivious to the shouted warnings from progressives.
Here comes the plot twist, though. As Obama enters the barn, a shadowy figure from the top of the finance industry rips Obama's face off... only it isn't Obama's face, see? It is just a mask depicting the weak, naive, and bumbling Obama. Underneath is revealed the cool, calculating Obama who was just pretending to be a sucker to lure the bad guys out into the open where he could politically skewer them.
Obama drags his attacker into daylight and rips off the hockey mask to reveal... Obama's best bud Jamie Dimon? There follows a tearful confession where Jamie says he "did it for the lulz" and never meant to hurt anybody. Obama releases Dimon after getting his promise that he won't rip people's faces off any more.
Happily ever after? Not quite. Despite Dimon remaining the model of good, rapacious, capitalist behavior, the de-facings continue until the climactic scene where, following the November elections, Julian Assange, who had been extradited from Sweden and was renditioned to Gitmo where he was being tortured to death, utters the password that unlocks the mother load of leaks. The explosion of exposed secrets blows off Obama's face, which turns out to be YET ANOTHER MASK! As we fade to black and rolling credits we glimpse President Jason Voohees hefting his atomic machete and eyeing Iran with obvious evil intent.
Obama wasn't in office more than a month or 2 when McConnell flat-out admitted his only goal as minority leader was to make sure Obama did not win a second term. It's not like Jason was hiding in the barn. He was standing right in front of Obama with his machete pointed in his face the whole time.
The more accurate anaology would be something like Obama as a wolf (Republican/centrist) in sheeps (democrats) clothing, only to discover at the end that the sheep weren't buying it and the wolves didn't trust him either and ripped his throat out anyway.
sign a pledge to bankrupt the country democrats see what happens.....
Of course I'm not having a superiority problem so I guess I can mis-type.