The Teabaggers, Obama’s Cavalry?

Although the issue of health care reform can be an important political issue during the 2010 elections, I believe it is a serious mistake to argue that it will be the primary determinant of how the election cycle swings. Recently, the Whitehouse quietly announced that their next major legislative issue will be immigration. Clearly health care reform is a very expensive initiative and the “death panel” arguments have created an emotionally heated argument, but comparatively speaking, health care reform is a very mild emotional topic when compared to immigration reform.

While immigration reform is obviously an important legislative matter and The White House will undoubtedly need to tackle it before 2012, the political timing of addressing this controversial topic is quite interesting. The unique political characteristic of immigration reform, from a strategic perspective, is its potential to expose major fissures in the republican machine. The Bush Administration’s position on immigration and the reaction of the GOP rank and file was an early indication that this would be a deadly issue for the Grand Old Party. Bush sided somewhat with the left and was in favor of a lenient (by GOP standards) “guest worker” program. Many felt the program was specifically designed to allow corporate America access to cheap labor but that it would at least allow undocumented workers some access to job safety and possibly even a retirement plan. The GOP foot soldiers were furious and reacted so angrily that the issue was quickly defeated and pushed to the bottom of the pile. The truth about immigration was out, the wealthy corporate republicans were dying to get their hands on a new generation of cheap labor and the Limbaugh listeners were looking to get rid of unwanted brown people who speak a foreign language. Once again, the chickens from the racist southern strategy were coming home to roost.

In the next few months healthcare reform will be finished and the GOP will once again face the internal divisions that are exposed by the issue of immigration reform. The Tea Party Movement will go nuclear at the mention of legislation that creates an avenue for undocumented workers to become US citizens. They will demand mass deportation and move to unseat all GOP incumbents who stray from their rigid anti-immigrant position. Meanwhile, GOP Congress members are facing a growing Latino population. This amounts to the trifecta of political headaches for the Republican incumbents come November. The Corporations favor lenient policies for foreign workers, the right wing rank and file favor rigid anti-immigrations laws, and the increasing numbers of Latino voters favor extremely liberal immigration policies. The paradox of man has always been that our greatest strength is also our greatest weakness. As was the case in upstate New York, the Teabag purist may very well dominate the GOP internally and produce general election candidates too extreme to claim any votes from the center, thus handing some reliable republican seats to a democrat. It is quite possible that the rigid right wing fury of the Tea Party Organization ultimately proves considerably more helpful to the President and his party, than the GOP.

Bow-gate, How Low Can You Go?

Let's just say that you move into a new office with a new group of co-workers and the very first day you are approached by a particular gentlemen named Bill. Bill seems to have some kind of problem with another co-worker, we'll call him Joe. Every morning Bill greets you with the latest screw up that Joe has committed. "Did you see where Joe parked this morning" he snidely remarks on Monday, "Who does he think he is parking right next to the V.P. of operations, what a suck-up." Tuesday you notice that Joe has hung a picture of his wife and kids in his cubicle. "He thinks we don't know he's trying to look like Mr. Goody Two-Shoes for the regional manager's visit tomorrow" remarks Bill. This goes on day after day, week after week, until you finally feel the need to confront Bill. "Bill" you say, "I have an issue with this Joe business. I think you are obsessing and I wonder what it is that you have against Joe, he seems like a nice enough guy to me?" Here's the question, if Bill says that he has no problem with Joe, he just happens to notice these obvious issues and feels that it is his duty to bring them to your attention would you believe him?

George Bush held the hand of, and kissed a Saudi King

Groped a German Prime Minister

and generally made a bungling idiot of himself abroad for eight long years.

However, the most ardent Bush apologists have become the most nitpicking critics America has ever known. Their latest gripe? President Obama bowed to the Japanese Prime Minister. If President Obama walked across the ocean to Japan they would have criticized him for breaking protocol by not taking Air Force One. The right wing echo chamber criticized the President for not wearing a tie in the Oval Office until pictures of Reagan without a tie appeared. They criticized him for taking his wife to a play in New York, for trying to bring the Olympics with its thousands of jobs to the U.S., for not going to Berlin, and for giving the Queen of England the very gift that she requested. Then CHEERED wildly when the United States lost its Olympic bid.

It's only been ten months but you have to wonder how long these clowns can keep up this kind of pace. You need only pay attention to what the President has, or hasn't done on a given day to predict the next round of absurd criticisms that are about to be leveled at him. I believe that we are rapidly reaching a point where the wing nut Obama critics are becoming caricatures of their own movement. However, I doubt they will be discouraged by a loss of credibility. One of my favorite quotes explains these people and their criticism quite clearly:

"Any argument that is not founded in logic and reason, will not be swayed by it"

The GOP's Strategy of Sabotage

In order to understand the tactics of the Republican Party you must first consider the strategy. The GOP, as an organization, is intent upon regaining political power, nothing else. This is not to say that there are not individuals within the Party who hold a genuine belief that their ideology is the most effective method of governance for our society. However, the overall Party strategy is forward looking with little regard for the "collateral damage" it will likely cause to the Country. In fact, it appears that the collateral damage is viewed as the vehicle to ultimate success. They see next year’s midterm elections as an opportunity to regain power and credibility.

The problem with the GOP's subversive plan is that the only way it works is if the country suffers setbacks and disaster. It doesn't take a P.H.D. in political science (lucky for me) to figure out that an economic upturn and the passage of legislature which enhances the lives of ordinary voters, such as universal health care, reduces the odds of the GOP retaking either of the houses of congress in 2010. Therefore, I would argue that any legislation which will either improve, or have the have the potential to improve the social and economic situation in America will be adamantly opposed by the Republican Party at all levels, specifically because it would in turn enhance the image of the incumbent party. Though quite cynical I admit, this argument is highly logical when considering the peculiar actions of the GOP in recent weeks. The Party whose motto was "Country First" during the presidential election wildly cheered when it was announced that the Olympic Committee had made a decision to send the games to Rio, despite the fact that this decision kept hundreds of millions of badly needed dollars out of the pockets of hardworking Americans. In virtual concert with Al Queda and the Taliban, the GOP attacked the President when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in the world. 

When all of the evidence is considered, the obvious conclusion is that between now and the midterm elections the Republican strategy amounts to political sabotage. The GOP has reasoned, as any sensible person or organization would, that millions of Americans with no health care coverage, who suddenly find themselves with health care coverage, are likely to feel some sense of gratitude to the Democrats. The underlying problem for the GOP is that many of them hail from impoverished Southern states with significant numbers of uninsured citizens. Though they may sympathize with the teabaggers, I doubt that many poor southern mothers will refuse health care coverage for their children just because it is a Government run system. Unfortunately, it appears that the Republican Party is betting that the only way up, is to push the average American further down.

Alternative Healthcare Plan?

Maybe I keep missing something in the GOP's alternative healthcare proposals, but it appears to me that they only address healthcare reform for people who are either already employed and either have healthcare, or can afford it at a minimal price. The variety of proposals put forth by various GOP groups and Republican members of Congress focus on lowering taxes in one form or another for those who either have healthcare with their current employer or are employed with no healthcare. This does little or nothing to address those who are unemployed, don't make enough to pay taxes, or make so little that they can barely afford basic essentials.

In real numbers, the plan put forth by the "House Republican Healthcare Solutions Group" covers only 17 million of the 46 million uninsured Americans in the best case scenario. The plan has no budget projections and its creators have no time table for when those numbers will be available.

It appears that their strategy is to provide so few details, that the opposition won't have anything to attack. An odd but possibly effective poltical strategy to address healthcare issues in America. However if you are unemployed with no healthcare you might want to consider moving to Costa Rica. The economy may be a little shabby, but they provide universal healthcare for all citizens.