It’s been impossible not to enjoy a healthy dose of schadenfreude over the debacle that Obamacare’s rollout has been. And aside from the most blind true believers out there on the left, America has come to realize that it’s only going to get worse. As Jonah Goldberg pointed out, after giving the caveats that there’s nothing funny about the harm Obamacare has already caused,
“If you can’t take some joy, some modicum of relief and mirth, in the unprecedently spectacular beclowning of the president, his administration, its enablers, and, to no small degree, liberalism itself, then you need to ask yourself why you’re following politics in the first place. Because, frankly, this has been one of the most enjoyable political moments of my lifetime.”
Read the whole thing. What’s also equally funny, sad, and galling is how leftists are insisting that Republicans fix the mess that they created with Obamacare. One would think that after their arrogance and righteousness that the left showed over their bright and shiny bill they’d be a bit humbled. Seeing their Holy Grail of laws failing so badly, seeing a struggling president who they elected based on critical issues like free birth control pills and telling them to hate the newly minted “White Hispanic” demographic as opposed to something trivial like the ability to lead, or for that matter, the very notion of statist leftism that drives all of their policies is becoming more and more unpopular as reality sets in should induce a bit of humility and introspection, right? You’d be wrong.
Stop for a minute and think about all of the times you’ve had to ask for help in your life. Maybe you messed up and got into a tight spot. Maybe something bad happened to you that was completely beyond your control. Things got bad enough that you had to ask for help – how did you approach it? Did you insist that you had done nothing wrong and that the actions and ideas that got into trouble were any less than brilliant? Did you continue by throwing vile insults at the person you’re reaching out to and continuously telling them if they don’t fix your mess that they had no part then they somehow would become responsible for your bad decisions? You probably wouldn’t, and neither would I. You would think that after having their belief system so thoroughly clowned by reality that the left in this country would be somewhat repentant and humbled? I would too, but that just hasn’t been the case. Not only do any leftists show no regret over Obamacare, but I think they actually managed to get more arrogant than ever. There’s no need to recap every misdeed the left has committed in the passage of and implementation of Obamacare. And now they are genuinely sincere in their belief that it’s up to the conservatives to fix their mess and attach their names to the stink coming off of this abomination that so beautifully embodies leftist thought.
Why the Mutara Nebula reference in the title of this post? The movie “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” featured a final battle of Kirk vs. Khan. Kirk led his damaged Enterprise to flee into a Nebula, where interference caused by the Nebula would even the odds of their duel in space. Back in 2011, when I wrote about how the left doesn’t get the Tea Party, I used “The Five Stages of Death and Dying” to describe how the left didn’t understand the Tea Party. Additional notes in parentheses are new:
Even with the presidency and both houses of Congress working diligently through job killing regulations, out of control pork spending and ever present threats of higher taxes to continue this gradual strangulation of our private sector they had to push for the Holy Grail of Obamacare in early 2010. Just like in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” with a starship at his disposal (both houses of Congress) and Project Genesis (the presidency) under his control Khan still would not heed the warnings of his helmsman (The American people) who urged Khan not to chase the Enterprise into the Nebula (force through Obamacare) that would render their sensors and shields (the mainstream media) useless…
“No sir, you have Genesis! You have whatever yo-”Â
“FULL POWER! Damn you!”
If we’re able to get Obamacare repealed before it’s able to fully metastasize in our health care system that law may turn out to be Obama’s Mutara Nebula. And as we’ve come to learn about our president, “He’s intelligent but not experienced. His pattern indicates two dimensional thinking.”
“Obama… I’m laughing at the superior leftist intellect!”
Maybe they lefties are right. Maybe Republicans should join in and do all that they can to reform health care. My question to the leftists is are you serious about improving health care in this country? Or do you just want to be able to splatter the blame so that you can pretend this mess isn’t your fault? If you are, here is list of a few demands if you want us to help you out of this mess:
1) President Obama issues a public apology to the country. For the sheer arrogance and delusion of how reality was supposed to magically suspend and make this bad idea work the president can show that he truly is a statesman and not some Chicago-machine hack by humbling himself for the good of the country.
2) Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi immediately resign. They led the way in the abuse of the legislative process to ram through this massive pile of legal effluent, so somebody has to be held accountable. Besides, it isn’t good for the Senate’s reputation to have a majority leader who is a known pederast.
3) Immediate and complete repeal of Obamacare needs to happen. All we’re asking is to give all Americans the same exemption from the law that all of the moneyed special interests get. The American people also get an assurance from Washington that this city has learned its lesson and will never again be arrogant enough to think that it’s smart enough to centrally plan 1/6th of our economy from a massive bureaucracy.
4) Now that we’re no longer pretending we can build Rome in a day, we’re going to try some changes to, well, make health care more affordable. First off, we repeal one of FDR’s most damaging legacies and transition the health care tax credit from businesses to individuals. Second, we open up the markets to allow insurance companies to sell their product across state lines. Let people use their new found tax credits to purchase the plan that’s right for them. And before you start saying that there’s no way people with pre-existing conditions could get covered then explain how drivers with bad records can get car insurance. Third, we enact tort reform. The trial lawyers got a pass when Obamacare got passed, but not this time. Does this give us an ideal health care system? No, it doesn’t. But we’re not trying to completely rebuild 1/6th of our economy – see #3
5) Kathleen Sebelius also has to resign as head of the Department of Health and Human Services. While the House and Senate majority leaders are being held accountable for the partisan abuse used to pass the law, Sebelius takes responsibility for the train wreck that’s been the implementation of the law. If she’s out who is her replacement? I’m glad you asked. How about Mitt Romney? Sorry everybody, I think that made everyone from both ends of the spectrum spit whatever they were drinking onto their laptop screen. And no, I’m not calling for Romneycare, either. See #4 regarding all that we’re planning to do for now. If the president is showing humility, how about asking someone who has experience in turning around failing operations? And it will give America a little bit of the do-over that we wish we could have for the 2012 election.
6) If Romney is going to turn this around, he’s going to need flexibility in his staff at the HHS. That means that any government employees in the HHS are no longer unionized. I’ve mentioned before that public sector unions are not a good idea in general, and this could be the first step toward broader reform. If any of the current HHS employees don’t like this they are welcome to leave. There are plenty of people who have lost their jobs over Obamacare who would be happy to do the jobs that some Americans don’t want to do.
7) We need someone with a health care background to serve as Romney’s Deputy for this undertaking. The person I have in mind for this is none other than… Howard Dean. Sorry conservatives, I should have warned you of another beverage spitting moment. And first off, I see Howard Dean as generally a loose cannon who is always reliable for spewing some partisan bile. But he is the one Democrat who spoke intelligently about this issue during the 2009 Town Hall meetings. This goes back to when he was at the health care Town Hall here in northern Virginia back in 2009. The fact that Dean was never part of the debate over the law showed me that the Democrats were never serious about making the law work as opposed to just ramming it through as quickly as possible. Check out the points Dean raised at my link from the Town Hall. While his ideas are far from perfect they should have been part of the debate from the beginning. And frankly, however much I disagree with Dean most of the time I’m always grateful for the rare occasion when a politician talks to me like I’m an adult.
8) We get a budget so we can tell the American people what we’re doing actually costs. No more of these reality-challenged estimates for the GAO to score so that the Democrats can lie about what Obamacare’s costs truly are. Have Paul Ryan working with whichever Democratic leader they choose will get us something we can use. If anyone thinks that Ryan’s notion of having a balanced budget around 2040 is too extreme you shouldn’t even be part of the conversation. It’s time to put an end to our policy of Deferred Tax Increases and launch a path toward Sustainable Government.
What are the chances of this actually happening? Slim and none. The best thing we can do right now is to continue to implement the law as it was passed and as quickly as possible – no delays and no exemptions (which I’ve been sayingfor a few years now).
People need to see the impact of what leftist benevolence truly is and what the costs involved are. What’s killing the president on this issue is that there’s no layer of journalists to cover for what people are seeing in their cancellation notices and skyrocketing premiums. Wait until people start seeing the doctors they’re losing and the hospitals that won’t accept their new wonderful, overpriced insurance. The next part comes from the death spiral of all of those necessary young people not signing up for insurance and starting to bankrupt the insurance providers. No, until this gets bad enough that we have prominent leftist politicians and journalists apologizing for their roles in forcing and promoting the law there’s no point in trying to offer an alternative. Until every Democrat is either running from Obamacare or calling for single payer (which will help to make it harder for most Democrats to pretend to be moderates) the only short and long term solution is to let. It. Burn.
Then again, maybe we conservatives should swallow our pride and offer whatever help the leftists want, as we have a duty to our country to take responsibility and work together lest we get blamed for Obamacare’s failure, right?
One last thing. Before we conservatives are gracious enough to share responsibility for Obamacare, I want every leftist reading this to stand aside Reid and Pelosi in apologizing and accepting responsibility for every soldier killed in the Iraq War that resulted from your unwillingness to work with the president in supporting your country.
Yeah, I admit that last part sounds pretty stupid. You lefties can sit down and take responsibility for your actions for once. Hopefully 2014 will be only the beginning.
Cross posted from Brother Bob’s Blog
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Nice job, Bob, but how can any lucid person log onto a website that allows hackers from Nigeria to have access to all your personal information or hires felons to help sign you up?
This thing is rotten to the core.
I learned early on about the concept of Wealth Redistribution, but Karl was pushing it a hundred years before I was born.
http://skooksjournal.com/?p=227#more-227
For the Dems I say,
To the last I graple with thee, from hell’s heart I stab at thee, with hate I spit my last breath at thee.
Incisive post. Clear cut goals. The only problem is your expectation of dems like Obama, Reid and Pelosi to do anything for the good of the country over their own political careers.
@Skook: Many thanks! The great New Jersey poet Robert Elsworth wrote a his own tribute to Obamacare:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YOvrqDtBqo
@Conservative Beaner: I have the Youtube clip of that bookmarked for every time one of my lefty buds reminds me that my beloved Philadelphia Eagles’ name originated as a tribute to one of FDR’s New Deal programs =8^)
@Pete: Zero chance of any of this happening. This was a wish list. Sadly we don’t elect leaders who believe in… leading.
The parallel with Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan is awesome. On the bridge of Kirk’s ship they were watching Khan’s ship slow down. After Kirk needles Khan into following him into the nebula, they watch Khan speed up. Kirk says, “I’ll say this for him; he’s consistent.”
RE: Blaming the GOP
ROFL
“Progressives” ignored the warnings by libertarians and conservatives.
“Progressives” wrote every word of this obnoxious legislation.
“Progressives” tried unsuccessfully to sell this to the American people.
“Progressives” rammed this through congress without a single GOP vote.
“Progressives” illegally changed this bill to make is less disgusting.
“Progressives” were totally 100% responsible for the implementation.
And now “Progressives” own the Mother of All Failures.
Coming soon: IPAB and employer mandates. It’s bad now, but it’s going to get worse.
Better stock up on popcorn. You won’t want to run out.
Can’t wait to see liberals eating their own dead.
WE HAVE TO PASS IT, BEFORE WE READ IT,
the policy of the DEMOCRATS ALL THE TIME,
now they apply it before reading it,
ONE PAGE OF IT SAIS: GET THE DEMOCRATS OUT OF THIS,
No one can help ”the Left.”
Not on this turkey.
Look at Obama just today.
He ”changed” the set-in-stone ”law,” of ObamaCare yet again!
The Small Business Health Options Program, known as the SHOP exchange, will not offer online enrollment until November 2014, a one-year delay from a launch that was initially planned for this past October.
Obama just made this gigantic change all on his own.
No help from anyone.
Not the courts.
Not Congress.
Not the people.
Even when Obama says he wants something, like his brown shirts to push enrollments on Thanksgiving Day, he has to backtrack within hours!
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/27/us/politics/white-house-urges-caution-on-health-site.html
Nanny G
didn”t he step on the CONSTITUTION AGAIN?
THE PRESIDENT IS GONE AWOL
I’m a Conservative (Tea Bagger) and I say “SCREW EM” just like they want to Screw me and the rest of the Conservatives in this Great Nation….
If they had to ‘rely’ on “Their” Welfare receipients, the Takers and now even the “Young”? (who can stay on their Parents Insurance until they are 26???) to Actually Pay for this “Brilliant” and “Affordable”??? Law….they never would have made it THIS far…
It’s the “Working” people they go after (Steal From) to pay for the BULK of this so called “Brilliant” and “Affordable” Law ….
Now, the COWARDS want help…Ha! (where ever is OUR HELP??? when the Middle Classes need it?? Fair is Fair Right?) SCREW EM’!! Let the REAP WHAT THEY HAVE SOWN…A vast ‘Majority’ of American ‘DID NOT’ want this Law Passed… To Date EVEN MORE (‘Enlightened’) and (Ignorant) Americans NOW have Buyers Remorse…
The Tea Party was damn Right!!
FAITH7
WE ALL NEED HELP TO GET THEM OUT OF THERE FOREVER,
THEY ARE THE EVIL OF AMERICA, THEY NEED TO GO BACK IN HELL,
WE NEED GOD TO HELP US, THEY ARE AFRAID OF HIS POWER,
YOU SEE HOW THEY WANT TO ELIMINATE GOD FROM ALL PUBLIC PLACES AND ALSO SCHOOLS TO CHANGE CHILDREN INTO DEVILS TO TORMENT THEIR ELDERS,
LET THEM BE CURSE BY GOD, AND THEY WILL DISAPEAR IN THE DARKNESS OF HELL
BYE
I am sad that it has come to this. You have a right to your opinion, no matter what it might be. With that said, what appalls me is not that you think the Democrats are wrong, but that you are so sure that the Republicans are right. It is funny you talk about leftists being blind. And it is funny you talk about Obama being arrogant. That goes both ways, too. (P.S. the Star Trek analogy is flawed in a number of respects)
@RJ: I’m not saying that the GOP is right, but calling the Obamacare rollout a success is requires arrogance and blindness.
And exactly how is the Mutara Nebula analogy flawed?