Health Care Debate Exposes Stupid Season in US Politics

In Britain, August is known as the "Silly Season" in politics because everyone is away, and the tabloids need something to sell papers. So, the silliest and most ridiculous stories hit the front page. In America, something similar is happening in the August Recess Health Care debate. It is not so much Silly Season as "Stupid Season." And one is not merely referring to the gun-toting crypto-fascists who are trying to intimidate at town hall meetings nor to the rabid ideologues on the left who want infinite health care without any concern about funding it. The political pundits are proving themselves to have taken a holiday from intelligence.

The distortions, misrepresentations and outright lies that have bubbled up since Congress took the traditional August recess are an outright discredit to American democracy and sensibility. Sarah "Quitter" Palin claims that the bill (actually there is no single bill) will create "death panels" to decide when to pull the plug on grandma. The truth is there are several "Death Panels," and they are all garage rock bands that have changed their names from something else in the last month. Some claim the bill (again, there isn't a single bill) will result in the government takeover of health care. Britain has had a single payer system since 1945, and Britons can still buy private health insurance or foot the bill themselves (known as "going private") and skip the National Health Service entirely. If private health has survived in "socialist" Britain after 64 years, it'll probably survive in capitalist America.

However, in cases like that one must merely consider the source, the ignorant, the fearful and the duplicitous. What is worse is how the punditocracy in the US has decided that August 2009 will determine the fate of the Obama presidency and the Democratic Party. Many are predicting a landslide for the Republicans in the 2010 mid-term elections. The same crowd, made up of both rightists and leftists, think the failure of health care reform will make Mr. Obama a one-term president. Indeed, this issue will be Mr. Obama's Waterloo (this journal agrees, but casts him in the role of Wellington).

This is all a steaming pile of piffle. Former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson once rightly observed "a week is a long time in politics." That means there are about 64 long times between now and the mid-terms. The truth is that Congress is not in session and Mr. Obama and family are enjoying mosquito-infested Martha's Vineyard for a week. In other words, nothing is really happening but a lot of chatter.

However, presuming health care reform fails because of the GOP and Blue Dog Democrats' resistance, it would be harmful the progressive cause, but it would also give Mr. Obama and the pro-reform Democrats a stick with which to beat the others. MoveOn.org and others have plans to run primary challengers against any Democrat who votes against reform.

Beyond mere health care, there are countless other factors that will overcome any hits taken by the health care debate. The economy has bottomed and by spring 2010, unemployment will have begun shrinking. By election day, the Iraq-namese Green Zone government may have demanded that the US get out of that country before the end of 2011, and the administration could spin it as ending Mr. Bush's war of aggression. The Republicans could have still more scandals in the wings that could undermine their prospects. A natural disaster could hit the US to which the administration responds well, the reverse of the Busheviks during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The list goes on and on. The 2010 and 2012 elections won't turn on the state of play in August 2009. Remember in August 2007, Hillary Clinton was destined to win the Democratic nomination. The pundits would be well advised to learn a couple new phrases: "It's too soon to tell," and "I don't know,"

© Copyright 2009 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

Kensington Review Home