The Progressive Mouse Trap

During his post-election press conference last week, the President was asked if he was concerned about exit polls showing 50% support for repeal of his health-care legislation.  He replied:

“Well, it also means one out of two voters think it was the right thing to do. And obviously this is an issue that has been contentious. But as I said, I think what's going to be useful is for us to go through the issues that Republicans have issues on—not sort of talking generally, but let’s talk specifics. Does this particular provision—when it comes to preexisting conditions, is this something you’re for or you’re against? Helping seniors get their prescription drugs—does that make sense or not?  And if we take that approach—which is different from campaigning—I mean, this is now governing—then I think that we can continue to make some progress and find some common ground. ...”

Here is the essence of the “progressive” mousetrap in a nutshell.  The President and his party seized a vast amount of un-Constitutional power over the private sector with the health-care bill.  The bill is an absolute disaster, destroying jobs and driving up insurance costs, as the astonished members of the AARP just learned.  Its cost projections have already been revealed as transparent frauds, pushing us closer to discovering what happens when the dying red star of our federal deficit collapses into a black hole … but all of that doesn’t matter, according to the President, as long as half the population isn’t clamoring for its repeal yet.

Note this doesn’t even mean half of voters energetically support the bill.  Energetic support  is no longer necessary.  In fact, it wasn’t necessary when the bill was passed in the first place, as polls demonstrated firm opposition from the public.  As it turned out, the only poll Democrats were interested in was the one that gave them the White House.  No one who voted for Barack Obama’s messianic promises of health-care reform would have supported the corrupt, misshapen mess that crawled from the back rooms of the Senate, devouring opportunity and leaving puddles of poverty in its wake.  But the Democrats had the power to force their agenda through, and since the people could not stop them, the people’s opinions were no longer relevant.

Asked about the sleazy payoffs and special exemptions required to pass his legislation, the President said, “I think that making sure that families had security and were on a trajectory to lower health-care costs was absolutely critical for this country. But you are absolutely right that when you are navigating through a House and a Senate in this kind of pretty partisan environment that it’s an ugly mess when it comes to process.”  The progressive relies heavily on the gullibility and short memory of his audience.  Republicans weren’t the ones getting Cornhusker Kickbacks last winter.  Much of ObamaCare’s staggering cost comes from purchasing the votes of reluctant Democrats.More