"Define irony. Bunch of idiots dancing on a plane to a song made famous by a band that died...in a plane crash."
--Garland Greene (Con Air)
Although the end promises to be one of tragedy, it is difficult not to laugh at the political theater that is Washington. First, a small group of Tea Party types stand in opposition to Obamacare and refuse to raise the debt ceiling unless the healthcare program was restrained.
Their ultimate goal was and remains to reverse this law. But they were willing to compromise and settle for a delay the rollout of healthcare program that might at least untangle some of the problems already visible with the implementation.
At first glance, it is hard to understand why Democrats did not jump at the chance. Here was an offer to delay rollout of a high profile program that was obviously in trouble in exchange for a pass to do more borrowing and spending that the Democrats (and many big government Republicans) love. Democrats could keep egg off their faces, blame Republicans for the delayed rollout, and run with the money.
But the Democrats said no. As the standoff morphed into partial government shutdown from lack of debt-driven funding, Democrats watched gleefully as public opinion polls turned down for Republicans who the mainstream media clearly painted as the bad guys in the government shutdown story. "Let's press it here," the Democrat machine must have said, "and put the Tea Party out of business."
Feeling the poll pain, big government Republicans sided with the Democrats in a vote to raise the debt ceiling with no delay in Obamacare.
Ironically, this vote coincided with the introduction of the healthcare.gov website intended to be the primary mechanism for enrolling people into Obamacare. This rollout has failed miserably.
From the president on down, Democrats are now tasting the egg.
Tea Party concerns receive some validation.
And, yes, there is chatter in Democrat ranks about the need to postpone Obamacare.
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There is a certain crowd in Washington who, for the last few decades, have said, let’s respond to this economic challenge with the same old tune. “The market will take care of everything,” they tell us. If we just cut more regulations and cut more taxes -- especially for the wealthy -- our economy will grow stronger. Sure, they say, there will be winners and losers. But if the winners do really well, then jobs and prosperity will eventually trickle down to everybody else. And, they argue, even if prosperity doesn’t trickle down, well, that’s the price of liberty.
Now, it’s a simple theory. And we have to admit, it’s one that speaks to our rugged individualism and our healthy skepticism of too much government. That’s in America’s DNA. And that theory fits well on a bumper sticker. (Laughter.) But here’s the problem: It doesn’t work. It has never worked.
~Barack Obama, Osawatomie, KS, 12/6/11
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