Kevin McCullough
Sunday, August 09, 2009
President Barack Obama, his staff and administration, are all in danger of making the worst political mistake of their lives. They seem unable or unwilling to recognize the damage it will cause. And this reality may be America's brightest reason for genuine hope and change.
Since the beginning of the August recess the actual "rulers" in this nation have been given their chance to speak. In high school gyms, in church basements, and in community college auditoriums the first real chance for accountability has been measured against the most tone-deaf administration of my lifetime. Retirees, stay-at-home moms, young professionals, and even a working bloke or two have shown up at the town-hall meetings to first hear from their representatives, and then to respond to the ideas put forth.
The report card for the administration in these town halls is reflecting the concurrent plummet in Barack Obama's approval rating on his signature issue--the universal federalized take-over of the health care given to patients in America. Now only 36% of Americans trust the President on the issue, 53% do not.
Every one on the President's team was taken by surprise at the response, primarily because of the biggest mistake an elected official can make. They believed their own press.
When an administration has had as free a hand in getting what should be a hostile press corps to instead become an echo chamber for its own policies, the risk that is run is to be caught believing what that press corps writes, reports, and editorializes upon. Because instead of being the loyal questioners they should in probing the depths of policies, intentions, and use of the federal agenda, the press becomes more or less a public relations extension of the executive branch and thusly unable to reflect the genuine accuracy of reaction to such policies.
The administration fell into believing what has been written, and honestly thinks their messianic fulfillment of bringing humanist utopia to the planet is a mandate.
Yet in town hall after town hall they are not able to control the branding or messaging of what "We The People" actually believe.
The administration, the elected members of Congress and most importantly the President evidently need reminding of who they work for. They need help remembering what their obligations represent. And they need to be mindful that if they do not do what the board of directors believe to be best, we can toss them on their can like yesterday's kitchen scraps and start over again.
I personally have been encouraged by the genuine efforts of citizens just like you and me attending town halls in August. I'm even more grateful, deeply so, that Americans have not become comrades of malaise, but rather still have core convictions that can be offended, and are in fact now angry.
This White House says, "Let me be clear" but follows those words with vague elusive non-committal language, because they cannot tell us the truth.
They say in prime time press conferences that the "public option" won't change current insurance coverage. But they tell the goons, thugs, and buffoons of SEIU and ACORN that the public option will lead the way to a "single-payer" system.
The administration says it will have the most transparent dialogue in the history of the nation. But they send the SEIU guerillas and the ACORN equivalent of the Sopranos to town hall meetings in order to muscle out legitimate citizen dissent.
The administration says it will not keep or form a database of the snitches they've begged to report on their neighbors who disagree with the health care plans. But under the laws governing the federal archival of all communication with the executive branch they are required to keep the names, e-mail addresses, and correspondence sent to them on the matter.
The President campaigned on the idea of bringing people together from all sides to solve the problems facing us. But when he does not think a camera is rolling he states that he doesn't wish for people opposing his view to do any talking.
President Obama has attempted to deceive the American people.
"We the People" gave him the benefit of the doubt, but in his first eight months his actions betray his true intent, and we trust him no more.
Americans by an overwhelming majority have listened to the ideas behind the kinds of reform the President wishes to enact on the health care system, and have rejected it.
They do so while still admitting they would like to see reform, but not the sort that the President proposes.
Should the administration not choose to recognize the truth in this scenario, "We the People" reserve the right to send them to the unemployment line, and are in the process of making that option clear to them.
The question is, who will the administration believe?
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