Two weeks ago, the Throgs Neck Bridge in New York City was accidently set ablaze due to a blow torch which basically shut the bridge down. Travelers had to make other plans using the Whitestone Bridge as well as ferries which can take passengers off of Long Island. Some have said we are in need of another bridge. New York like California is a cash-strapped state and frankly, we cannot afford another bridge.
Then we have the ominous eight-hundred pound gorilla in the room which is healthcare. Presently, there are over 47 million who go without and that number does not include the underinsured. Yet, obstructionist senators like Jim DeMint instead of trying to deliver such aid and comfort to a people had this say: "If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him."
While some decry the President's plan as not being one to solve this crisis and it is a crisis, at least we have a President who is willing to step up to the plate and help bring relief to many millions of people. Unlike his predecessor, George W. Bush.
Not to be outdone, you then have Bill Kristol who stated: "My advice, for what it's worth: Resist the temptation. This is no time to pull punches. Go for the kill." In referring to the President's healthcare plan by calling it 'Obamacare'. My reaction to his statement on both Twitter and Facebook.com was, "Go to HELL!" Sorry for such foul language but it needed to be said.
In both cases and statements it reminds me of a statement made in the movie, "The American President" when the fictional president, Andrew Shepherd had this to say: "We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious men to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, friend, I promise you, Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things and two things only: Making you afraid of it and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections. You gather a group of middle-aged, middle-class, middle-income voters who remember with longing an easier time, and you talk to them about family and American values and personal character."
This my friends and readers is the gist of the blowback to President Obama's healthcare plan by folks like DeMint and Kristol. In fact, you can substitute their names when Shepherd refers to Rumson. Both offer you nothing when so many of you are hurting out there. They are zealots and miscreants as far as I am concerned when this country does have serious problems to solve and America should rise in anger towards obstructionists like them and say: "ENOUGH and SHUT UP!"
Kristol, was a student of Leo Strauss (the father of the Neoconservative movement) and he like others who believe in the Neoconservative mentality which is crap in my book, gave us only wars has cost this country dearly. These wars have now cost all of us over $1 trillion dollars and yet they wish to scare you of the sticker-shock of any healthcare package? Nonsense!
I find Kristol's statement of going for "the kill" to be telling since he has been a proponent of these wars which have only killed our soldiers and innocent Iraqis. Yet, folks listen to this garbage?
We as a nation must remember that it was a Republican President, George W. Bush and a Republican-led congress who did nothing to address the healthcare problem, did nothing to rebuild this country as they destroyed another by illegally invading it. They shoveled your hard earned dollars out the door to level complete cities such as Fallujah, Iraq.
Do you really want to revisit those darkened years by listening to Kristol and DeMint? Nothing was done for you as you sit waiting for the next bill from any doctor or hospital to come in. That is truly their legacy. To any Democratic congressional leader who fears for his or her own reelection by going up against the President, you have no place in congress if fear is your guiding force. To me, healthcare is a civil right and a right that should be guarded and protected by every single legislator at any level of our government. People have the right to live and thrive!
Americans went to the polls in record numbers this past election to send Barack Obama to the White House to work on behalf of all Americans. While I have taken issue with some of his plans, I refuse to listen to those whose sole mission is to break the President for their own selfish desires. Their words mean nothing to me and they should mean nothing to you!
Author's email address is, xmjmac@optonline.net
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