A Pyrrhic Passage?
By: Victor Davis Hanson
The Corner
At an outdoor rally today, the president described the health-care debate as a referendum on the “character” of the country, and I do believe he was correct.
The president is pushing legislation that a clear majority of the people dislike, and whose details neither he nor his supporters can explain in simple language. Its ends-justify-the-means passage will require legislative gymnastics that border on the unconstitutional, and in Orwellian fashion are designed to reassure its sheepish supporters that they can appear not to be voting for the bill they vote for. And to achieve a House majority, Obama must offer an array of personal favors, political payoffs, federal stipends, and open threats, which, if done in the private sector, would be actionable acts of felonious bribery or racketeering.
So, yes, this is a reflection about character; and so far the president has throughout this entire shameful process been shown to be utterly wanting on that count, as he misrepresents both the bill’s contents and the opposition to it. All of his “let me be perfectly clear” and “make no mistake about it” and now-tired rhetoric and faux cadences simply cannot change that disturbing reality.
That such chameleon legislation is the work of a supposedly healing, post-partisan, post-ideological politician makes it even more embarrassing. There will be lots of us -- Democrats, Republicans, Independents -- who simply will not vote this fall for any congressional representative who votes for this tawdry DMV-like take-over of health care.
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