“Bring It On!”

posted at 11:37 am on March 29, 2010 by Howard Portnoy
[ Cronyism ]   

“That’s a fight I’m eager to have.” The bellicose speaker of these words is Barack Obama, and the occasion is any number of times in his brief presidency that the minority party has stated firm opposition to one or another of his radical ideas. So far, each time Obama has beat his chest and dared Republicans to cross the line in the sand, he has promptly retreated to his bedroom, pulled the covers over his head, and begun fiercely sucking his thumb.

His most recent school yard challenge to “bring it on” is in reaction to threats to repeal the health care reform plan he recently forced down the throats of an unwilling electorate. This time, Obama has help, in the form of bullies from the mainstream press. Bullies like Frank Rich, who wrote a disgraceful New York Times op-ed yesterday, in which he decried the never-substantiated racial epithets that were purportedly hurled at black members of Congress by protesters. Or Derrick Jackson of the Boston Globe, who perpetuates the same unconfirmed claim made by Rich, but doubles down on the racism charge by misquoting Newt Gingrich’s recent remarks, recasting them as belated opposition to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Suddenly, liberal journalists, who seemed to be on the verge of recognizing the level of unspeakable sliminess exhibited by the Democrat caucus and White House over the past 15 months, are feeling their oats. Stanley Crouch, writing in today’s New York Daily News, writes resentfully of The Democrats having “had to do it alone,”adding that

On a number of occasions, President Obama asked for reform ideas from the Republicans. But their idea of reform was no compromise, no fresh thoughts, no backing away from protecting the health care industry to which they had sold their souls during the presidency of George W. Bush.

What?! Never mind the bald-faced lies about Obama’s reaching out to the Republicans or to their lack of ideas. Instead take a moment savor the unstated but clear opinion that suddenly this health care fiasco, which threatens to plunge the country into a real second Great Depression, is a good thing (to borrow Matha Stewart’s catch phrase).

As for the claims of partisanship (which in and of itself is an unfunny joke), have the Democrats noticed that one of the 13 state attorneys general suing the federal government over claims that the health care reform bill is unconstitutional is one of their own?

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