Obama: Healthcare as "Some Bolshevik Plot"
DIANA WEST BLOG
By rbuscher@haleymiranda.com
This is a picture of Prez Obama lobbing a grapefruit to the GOP to bat out of the park: namely, when in meeting with the GOP yesterday he derided conservative opposition to Obamacare (which proposes to nationalize one-sixth of the economy) and said: "You'd think this thing was some Bolshevik plot."
Um, yeah. "Bolshevik," "Marxist-Leninist," "Socialist," "Communist," "Progressive" -- take your pick.It's not a plot, of course, because it's in the open. Hiding in plain sight.
Imagine if the GOP had agreed with the president and embarked on a little history lesson to connect Obama with his ideological roots for the American people ...
But no.
Here's the relevant Obama transcript from the White House.
>>> ...The component parts of this thing [Obamacare] are pretty similar to what Howard Baker, Bob Dole, and Tom Daschle proposed at the beginning of this debate last year.
Now, you may not agree with Bob Dole and Howard Baker, and, certainly you don't agree with Tom Daschle on much, but that's not a radical bunch. But if you were to listen to the debate and, frankly, how some of you went after this bill, you'd think that this thing was some Bolshevik plot. No, I mean, that's how you guys -- (applause) -- that's how you guys presented it.
And so I'm thinking to myself, well, how is it that a plan that is pretty centrist -- no, look, I mean, I'm just saying, I know you guys disagree, but if you look at the facts of this bill, most independent observers would say this is actually what many Republicans -- is similar to what many Republicans proposed to Bill Clinton when he was doing his debate on health care.
So all I'm saying is, we've got to close the gap a little bit between the rhetoric and the reality. I'm not suggesting that we're going to agree on everything, whether it's on health care or energy or what have you, but if the way these issues are being presented by the Republicans is that this is some wild-eyed plot to impose huge government in every aspect of our lives, what happens is you guys then don't have a lot of room to negotiate with me.<<<
They don't like that in Chicago.
>>> I mean, the fact of the matter is, is that many of you, if you voted with the administration on something, are politically vulnerable in your own base, in your own party.<<<
Not quite sure what he's getting at --
>>> You've given yourselves very little room to work in a bipartisan fashion because what you've been telling your constituents is, this guy is doing all kinds of crazy stuff that's going to destroy America.<<<
Speaking the truth, in other words.
>> And I would just say that we have to think about tone. ...<<<
So, O says, stop doing it. |
