Posted by
Buster Foghorn on Tuesday, August 03, 2010 11:13:33 PM
They are looking for respect but voters wait for accomplishments.
President Obama appeared on “The View” last week, talking once again about a litany of disasters he inherited and how he saved us from a great depression. When he speaks there is always the implication that we should appreciate what he has done for us. Mr. Obama continues to sing the same tune sung by many Congressional Democrats—look America, look what we have done for you. They appear to be looking for respect for their accomplishments. Perhaps some of them even feel like the comedian Rodney “no respect” Dangerfield.”
Rodney Dangerfield was funny when he used his “I get no respect” line in his jokes. But the President and Congress forgot lesson number one about getting respect from voters: to get respect you first have to earn it.
In the past eighteen months, President Obama and Congressional Democrats have been busy rolling through much of the progressive agenda. Democrats conducted lots of back-room deals, including a closed-door meeting about health care with union members at the White House. Democrats made special arrangements with reluctant members of Congress, members who needed additional incentives for their votes. Democrats held numerous closed door sessions late into the night hammering out earmarks and other political concessions. But if we look at three signature bills they passed, what have they accomplished?
Congressional Democrats with a reckless disregard for the consequences pushed through major legislation involving an economic stimulus, health care, and financial reform. They passed a stimulus bill in excess of $850 billion without reading it, a bill considered a failure by a majority of Americans, saddling future generations with huge debt and little to show for it. Democrats muscled through a 2,000-page comprehensive health care bill, a bill passed without a single Republican vote and against the wishes of over 60% of Americans. Speaker Pelosi even urged passing it so we could learn what was in it. The health care bill threatens to reduce the quality of care, and to impose “rationed, centrally controlled, uniformly dispensed health care even if it is poorer in every sense – in terms of resources, productivity, and medical outcomes – than that in which individuals routinely contribute to the cost of their own care.” The bill is a move towards the British model just when Britain's Prime Minister announced “the biggest revolution in the National Health Service since it began 60 years ago.” Democrats rammed a 2,300-plus page comprehensive financial reform bill through Congress. Senator Dodd, one of the main authors of the bill, said we won’t know the effect of the bill until after we pass it. Democrats touted the legislation, asserting that it will prevent another financial crisis. But the public knows that the bill doesn’t even address the issues with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two institutions believed by many to be the cause of the crisis.
If we look at just these three examples of government activity, are we really better off today than we were 18 months ago? Are more Americans working? Will our quality of health care be better? Have the problems with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—the institutions at the heart of the subprime mortgage crisis—been fixed?
Even though Congress and the President pushed through several major legislative items on their agenda, as the legendary UCLA Basketball Coach John Wooden used to tell his players: “Don’t confuse activity for accomplishment.” These three bills were not models of good service, or admirable qualities, or sound judgment. The jury is out about what will happen as a result of the activity during the past 18 months, but whether there have been any accomplishments worthy of respect—well, let’s just say, the level of skepticism is palpable and American voters deserve better.