Some commentators call the stubborn insistence to pass Obama’s unpopular healthcare plan a “suicide pact” among liberals in Congress. They’re risking political suicide to get socialized Healthzilla signed before the November midterm elections rip away Democrats’ hold on power.
With all respect to such political savvy and intuition, the Democrats’ plan might not be so noble as hari-kari. Obama and the Democrats might be banking on the political equivalent of maternal dementia.
Politics is like childbirth, painful and dangerous, but ultimately subject to virtual amnesia. Ask any mom in the midst of labor whether she’s planning on having more children and you risk physical harm. Ask her the same question moments after the newborn is laid in her arms for the first time and, through tears of joy, she’ll tell you it was all worth the pain and effort.
Very soon the Administration will begin liquidating those still unspent billions of TARP funds into the battleground districts while starving Republican districts of similar cash slushies. Growth in the government job sector will continue with more people gratefully finding work with Uncle Sam, while millions more will rest easy at home receiving unemployment checks even as Congress battles to secure longer time frames for unemployment benefits. Plus summer typically sees warmer temperatures, less money spent on heating oil and a few dollars left over for the family vacation however humble while sunny weather buoys Americans’ moods. Democrats are betting that the economy will likely improve for a while as those TARP funds are spent and as the normal course of American capitalism struggles to overcome governmental assault.
Behind the scenes the Administration is reassuring Democrats of their political safety in their gerrymandered districts. Time does heal all wounds. Healthzilla may be upsetting now, but as government largesse blunts, however temporarily, bad economic news and folks start receiving government paychecks, stimulus checks and one time tax credits, the political dementia will likely kick in just in time for the reelection season to begin in earnest. Eight months is a lifetime in the political psyche.
And don’t underestimate the power of the MSM. When the January jobs report showed a fractional decrease in the number of unemployed, the MSM jubilantly proclaimed that the economy had turned the corner and hailed Obama as an economic savior. And all for a microscopic, temporary improvement in the jobless rate, due largely to the sad fact that more people simply stopped looking for work. There will likely be another slight decrease in unemployment numbers as the federal governmental hires temporary census workers, too. All of this will sway the grim jobless numbers just enough for the MSM to crow over Obama’s Jobs Summit triumph as the pivotal moment in the Great Recession.
So Emperor Obama, Princess Pelosi and Duke Harry are doubling down on political dementia. Let’s hope Republicans have the stomach to remind us just how uncomfortable giving birth to socialism really is. Because if they don’t, Democrats’ wager on political dementia may well pay out handsomely come November 2.
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