Put down your coffee before reading <gg> ~ Beldar summarizes Obama's health care address to Congress
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
beldar.blogs.com
Once upon a time — on a magic day when the calendars all said "Oh, nine! Oh, nine! Oh nine!" — King Canute rode on his Magic Pony down the aisle of the Wizards' Castle until he reached the pretty blue carpet at the bottom. Even though he wasn't at the seashore, when he climbed down from his pony, the waves and waves of applause made King Canute think he was. So he ordered the sea to cease its lapping at the shore, for its waves to stop rolling, and for the government operation of health care — through Medicare and through the King's "public-option plan," and through all the other ways that government has regulated and will regulate the rest of the health care industry — to be perfectly efficient and effective. Perfect!
Yay! The Democrats all cheered and gave him many standing ovations to demonstrate their belief that indeed, the sea will soon go absolutely still, and our government will now and forever after do superbly that which no government before, including our own, has managed to do even adequately even for one day.
The King announced that henceforth, because he and his Magic Pony are very smart and will show us how, everyone can get more of everything, and everything will be better than it is now, but it will all cost less money than even just some of us are spending now. Brave, clever King Canute! No King will ever again have to worry about the sea moving, or about health care. Why didn't we make him the King way back when Good King Ronny was getting old? Oh yeah, now I 'member: It's 'cause King Canute was still doing cocaine back then, when he was just Prince Barry. It's good that he stopped that, and that he learned to think and speak so clearly now, especially about how to save money! Yay! Nobody is more believable than King Canute when he promises to save money and cut government spending!
King Canute said that there are "details still to be worked out" — drawing an appreciative laugh from the other politicians present, who sympathized with the King for his gigantic mistake of accidentally going off-script to tell the truth for a moment. But the TelePrompter of the United States regained control over the scene and the speech, and so there were no further accidental encounters with reality. Thank goodness for the TOTUS!
And the King's "public-option plan" will be especially clever, since it will be better and cheaper than everything the private companies offer ('cause the Magic Pony will pay all its expenses and won't take away any profits). But don't worry — the King promised that the public-option plan will only be available to those without insurance! Thus did the King solve the old problem of those who complain when others pee in the pool. Now surely only people who really feel the need to pee will decide to pee in the pool, and now surely no companies or individuals that are having trouble paying for insurance will decide to become "without insurance" so they can get into the government-subsidized public-option plan.
Therefore, no one in the pool needs to worry about ever being touched by pee, nor to worry about the public-option plan turning into a government health-care monopoly with single-payer socialized medicine like they have in Merrie Olde Englande.
"Whee whee whee!" shouted the happy Democrats, "Slippery slopes are fun!" ("Pee pee pee," muttered the grumpy Republicans, "We see where this is going.")
Thereupon King Canute did a happy dance to make everyone feel happy, and then he acknowledged the many cheers, and he remounted his Magic Pony and rode back up the aisle. Most of those on the right side of the aisle, and even a few of them on the left, noticed that the Magic Pony had left behind a steaming, fragrant gift on the pretty blue carpet. Most of them on the left thought the gift was dessert, so they gobbled it up while insisting that it was really, really yummy. But they saved a piece for you. Do you want it?
Couple of Comments from Beldar Blogs.....
Posted by Beldar at 08:37 PM in Congress, Current Affairs, Obama, Politics (2009) | Permalink
(8) Beldar made the following comment | Sep 12, 2009 3:49:50 PM | Permalink
Gregory (#5): You're absolutely correct that I libeled the historical and very wise King Canute by comparing him with Obama. Moreover, I did so knowingly, under the belief that the shallow and 180-degrees backward portrayal of him as the acme of kings who falsely and foolishly (but sincerely) believed themselves omnipotent would best make my political point about President Obama. Obama's towering ego thus defies my ability to find fair comparisons. I plead guilty to your charge, and I take a coward's thin refuge in the fact that the good King, being dead, can't sue me, but I'm in fact much relieved that you've exposed my libel down here in the comments. Thanks.
(9) Gregory made the following comment | Sep 13, 2009 10:34:20 PM | Permalink
Beldar: I don't blame you. I figured that you probably understood who King Canute was. And in fact, it would have been difficult for you to find any proper comparison of any king or emperor to President BHOmbastic.
Most kings and emperors, Christian, pagan or otherwise, are far too smart to actually believe in the divine right of kings. At least, if they had to work even the least bit for their thrones. Witness Caesar Augustus, who at the word that he had been apotheosised, remarked "Oh, great, now what the hell do I do when someone prays to me to cure his goat?"
President Obama, unfortunately, seems to think he really was given a divine mandate, just as the ancient Chinese emperors were. Someone should tell him what happened when the Chinese people believed that Heaven had withdrawn the mandate. |
