Dave-El here and welcome to I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You, the blog with more cowa AND bunga!
Today, I want to talk about What's Really Important!
No, not the looming government shutdown. So once again, the GOP and the Dems are playing chicken with the Federal budget and neither side is ready to blink even as both rush headlong toward a sharp cliff.
On second thought, I don't think "rush" is the right word here.
This reminds me of a story that Dave Barry told about two drivers in Miami who were in two lanes that were going to merge due to road construction. Neither guy was going to be the one who let the other guy get ahead of him. But this was no high speed breakneck rush over a finish line. With all the construction, the backed up traffic was moving at a crawl...including the two nimrods who were determined to not let the other undermine his manhood by getting ahead. So the two cars crashed into each other. Let me rephrase that: the two SLOW MOVING cars SLOWLY crashed into each other. As Dave Barry put, it was the world's most avoidable accident.
That's exactly what's going on in Washington as two opposing sides do not rush but rather saunter along towards the cliff. It's a crisis that is completely avoidable and entirely created by guys who are determined to prove their dick is bigger than anyone else's by not giving up a single inch.
And how do we, the American people, benefit from such shenanigans?
...
I'll have to get back to you on that.
So What's Really Important?
The rollout of Obamacare, right? No, not really. I think I'm OK, at least in the short term. But others are looking at either manna from heaven as health care will be made available for all in a golden utopia of peace, love and understanding OR the fires of hell raining down and burning the American dream to ash and ruin.
The whole debacle with the latest showdown over the Federal budget was sparked by the House GOP once again seizing the chance to kill Obamacare by tying the agreement to a budget to a one year delay of the rollout of the health care reform package. The zeal to try for...what, the 47th time?...killing Obamacare is predicated on the simple premise that whatever Barack Obama wants, do not give it to him. Ever.
Let me say that I don't like calling it "Obamacare". Nothing for or against the man personally, I just thinking hanging anyone's name on what is supposed to be a national initiative to help a large portion of our citizens rings too much as an appeal to the cult of personality. I'm sure his opponents think Obama just loves that but if I had to guess, I think President Obama probably winces every time someone invokes the name "Obamacare". On one hand, if the program is a success, the President knows he'll be criticized for trying to take credit for something that a lot of people had to work together to make happen. On the other hand, if the program fails in anyway, the sole blame will be placed at his feet.
There are a lot of moving parts to the Affordable Care Act and the odds of everything working 100% smoothly from day one are not good. But it is a significant step in dealing with a very real burden on American individuals and families as well as the economy as a whole. Health care costs keep rising and health care insurance keeps getting more and more expensive. Something needed to be done to bring this in check.
Is the Affordable Care Act perfect? Is it a magic bullet that will solve all our problems? No, absolutely not. But the Republican party chose to walk away from the table when the nuts and bolts of the Affordable Care Act were being put together. Any conservative input to those proceedings was lost to the overriding theme that controls everything the Republicans have done since November 2008: whatever Barack Obama wants, do not give it to him. Ever.
If a true bi-partisan approach had been taken with the development of the Affordable Care Act, perhaps we wouldn't be dealing with all this uncertainty over what this act and the future will bring. Perhaps the American people would be more truly understanding what was being done and to what benefit for our lives as well as our economy. With all that, this health care reform would be a success. And it would be a success under President Barack Obama. And the GOP just can't let that happen, can they?
But this is all, sadly, old news. Just bread and circuses except the bread is stale and the circus act just isn't entertaining anymore...if it ever was.
So What's Really Important today? How about this?
The Simpsons' plots to kill off another character ... but who?
Could it be Sideshow Bob? Or
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