Healthcare destroys a presidency and jeopardizes a political party.
In the fledgling days of the personal computer industry, software
vendors frequently announced products that were not yet ready for
release. The term “vaporware” was coined to describe such software.
Most of these products never reached the marketplace. Some that did
should not have.
The recent health-care reform effort was nothing more than a
modern-day, political version of vaporware or, more aptly, VaporCare.
The VaporCare bill never reached a point where it was ready for
“release.” In software terminology, the legislation was nothing but
“spaghetti code.” It was written by dozens, all of whom brought their
own coding styles, wants and objectives. There was no guiding objective
to the legislation other than “we must pass something, quickly.”
No one, including the various writers of the bill, the Congress or
President Obama, had a comprehensive understanding of the legislation.
The bill was a “moving target,” changing whenever criticisms arose,
decision-makers met or vote-buying was required. Few of the ad hoc
changes had anything to do with improving the quality of health care.
As stated in The Legend of Bagger Obama:
At the end, there was no discernible logic behind the
plan. Inconsistencies, deals, falsified data and outright lies were
evident to anyone willing to look. Despite the problems and
unpopularity, healthcare moved forward not unlike an ancient pagan
ritual. Congressional Democrats [were willing to sacrifice] the best
healthcare system in the world and the American taxpayer to their God,
Bagger Obama.
No
one in the political class knew what was in the final bill or whether
their Frankenstein monster would work. Few seemed to care.
Vaporware or “sausage-making” might be foreign to voters, but their
health care is not. The public quickly realized that they did not
matter, at least in the eyes of the political class. Passage of a bill,
any bill, was more important than the quality or quantity of health
care. Monument-building was too important for normal folks to have
input. The political elites knew what was best for the common folks and
were intent on providing it, “good and hard.”
Blinded by ambition, Democrats believed they could ignore the
electorate. Despite rising public discontent, the political class
plowed ahead. Why not? They had a filibuster-proof majority. They had
designed (and continued to modify) a great VaporCare plan. Their
President had messianic powers that would enable him to sell any
program they designed. It was a sure thing. Full speed ahead!
Democrats clearly misjudged. The largest ratings agency in the
country, the voting public, rated the product defective, yet the Dems
moved toward passage. Congress came across as imperial, and President
Obama ultimately fared even worse.
President Obama’s ego and self-absorption apparently required him to be public all the time. According to CBS News,
there were only 21 days in his first year where Obama did not make at
least one public appearance. The statistics from CBS were amazing: 411
speeches comments and remarks of which 52 were on Vaporcare, 158
interviews, visits to 58 US cities and 21 foreign nations, 160 flights
on Air Force One, 193 flights on Marine One, etc. etc. In short, it was
Obama time, all the time.
While familiarity doesn’t always breed contempt, it appeared to be
in play with President Obama, especially after a series of
disappointments. Campaign promises were broken, promised transparency
became a joke, foreign policy was seen wanting if not embarrassing,
terror defenses seemed diminished, Chicago-type deals were worked, and
other real-world inconveniences intruded on “The One’s” plan for his
Camelot. These disappointments diminished the Obama mystique, but would
not have killed his Presidency.
Obama’s continued hard sell, including obvious lies regarding the
bill, revealed him to be little more than an unethical salesman
attempting to foist off a defective product on a stupid group of
customers. In Obama Wins Oscar, where his style was compared to the motley sales force from the movie Glengary Glen Ross, it was observed:
Quite the performance, just not something most would
expect from the President of the United States. The exchange seemed
more appropriate for used car salesmen or “boiler-room” stock scams.
In short, the performance seemed both desperate and dishonest. My
thought was, “Would I buy aluminum siding from this man?”
VaporCare cost Obama whatever credibility he had left. His campaign
guise of nobility and omnipotence was revealed as fraudulent when he
used the approach of an unethical used-car salesman. Messiahs don’t
sell snake oil. Anointed Ones don’t engage in fraud. The high hopes and
dreams that accompanied Obama’s ascendancy to the Presidency (and
ultimately Mount Rushmore) came crashing down when he lowered himself
to selling the VaporCare lie. His image changed from The Exalted Leader
to just another Used Car Salesman from Chicago.
Obama
jokingly referred to the ending of the movie Thelma and Louise, saying
health care would not end that way. But VaporCare did go over the cliff
(or Freudian slip, “precipice”). With it went what remained of Obama’s reputation, image and Presidency.
VaporCare tarnished all its proponents. The Democrats felt the voter
wrath in several elections, none of which should have been close. All
turned into spectacular, seemingly inexplicable, losses. VaporCare
appears out of reach for now. The Left is angry, the Right is angry
and voting results show that Independents are running from the
Democrats in droves.
Polls portend bad results ahead for Democrats. That spells major
problems for President Obama. A political animal’s first instinct is
survival. When re-election is jeopardized, watch out! Already one can
see the Democrats distancing themselves themselves from their
President. As the 2010 elections approach, their feelings toward their
own President are likely to be described by the , the following passage
from The Legend of Bagger Vance:
“You know you can just go ahead and creep off somewhere
I’ll tell folk you took sick… Truth be told, ain’t nobody gonna really
object… In fact, they’d probably be happy as bugs in a bake shop to see
you pack up and go home…”
This President was likely doomed to failure without the Vaporcare
debacle, but realization would not have come so soon. All style and no
substance can fool some of the people only some of the time. Form and
flair work in a campaign, but they are no substitute for governance.
VaporCare was the tipping point. Visions of Obama’s greatness were
replaced with a tawdry picture of political opportunism and
corruptness, self aggrandizement and Chicago-style gutter politics.
Stripped of his veneer, Obama was found to have no substance. Many
feared this outcome from the beginning, but foolishly hoped that
charisma, myth and sizzle would be enough to succeed. Obama quickly
transformed from public celebrity to public nuisance. Talented people
will be tolerated for self-absorption and arrogance. For incompetents,
these traits are massive liabilities.
Obama’s Presidency has been reduced from the Messianic to the
tawdry, all as a result of VaporCare. When his image died, so did his
Presidency. Stick a fork in the Obama Presidency. It is over.
The
political excitement, however, is just beginning. The 2010 elections
will not be pretty. Dems will be fighting for their political lives and
running away from Obama. This will be cruel, much like a Mexican
bullfight with Obama as the bull and his own party as the matadors.
Like the bull, Obama will not comprehend what is happening. His
self-image and former cult-like status will add to his confusion. His
propensity toward anger and intolerance towards anyone in his way will
make for a glorious, bloody fight. But the matadors have both numbers
and experience. They will finally overwhelm and kill the bull, but not
without substantial losses in their own ranks.
Bullfights are never pretty. Especially ones that drag on for three years.