The Shell Game

There is an old saying, that laws are like sausage, it is better not to see either being made. This whole health care fiasco is a case in point. However, we are all fortunate that there are lots of people watching it being made. For some unknown reason, on his "signature" issue, "The One" chose not to propose anything specific, but just leave it up to Congress. Virtually every president I can think of "proposed" legislation and had someone or a committee in Congress introduce it. In this instance, Obama just left it up to Pelosi, Reid and their minions to come up with legislation for "his" plan. In typical fashion, Congress responded and we have 5 different health care bills working their way through the process. If I had better feelings for the motivation of Obama, Emanuel, Axelrod and company, I might chalk it up to politcal naivete. However, these are seasoned veterans of Chicago machine politics. It appears to me that something else is in play. It basically reminds me of the old shell game.

Case in point, the Joe Wilson, "you lie" comment. President Obama during his umpteenth speech on healthcare (even though he hasn't proposed a single plan yet) said it was a lie that illegal aliens were covered. That prompted the heckling by a sitting member of Congress. (The first time in memory that has occurred!) The Democrats proudly point to a provision in one of the 5 bills that excludes illegal aliens, saying that proves this idiot Republican doesn't know what he is talking about. However according the the Congessional Research Service, none of the other 4 bills contain that provision. In fact a headline on an article I read today stated, "Rep Wilson Outburst Leads Senate Dems to Close Loophole." So the Senate version now contains that language. But to take it one step further, during the committee hearing on the 1 house bill that does contain the prohibition, there were a number of votes to add enforcement language to that provision. They were all defeated on a party line vote.

Similar to that story is the one about the "death panels". Whether one agrees or disagrees with the interpretation that there were "death panels", within a couple of days of that story breaking, there was great hoopla that the Senate version of the bill had stricken that language that led people to that conclusion.

All of this basically reminds me of the old shell game. Obama is the shell man. He is peddling a great story. Pelosi, Reid and their allies are the shills, crowding around us to prevent us from leaving or seeing for sure what is going on. If someone objects to something...not in this bill, you don't know what you're talking about. On another objection they point to another bill. Oops, you missed. The American people are the mark. We're getting taken if we let it happen. We've all seen too many stories too many times where a single Congressman or Senator inserts provisions in bills at 2 am behind closed doors during "conferences" and then that being passed into law to feel comfortable with the assurances of what is and isn't in this bill. When you see the games being played around what is or isn't in the bills that makes me even more leery.

I only see one way around this. Obama on Wednesday "promised" he wouldn't sign anything into law that added one dollar to the deficit. According the the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, none of the 5 bills that are being considered meet that requirement. So, President Obama, propose a new piece of legislation that carries out your objectives and won't add to the deficit. Let's have a debate about the merits of YOUR proposal. Let there be enough time that those that are interested can provide their input. Let Congress vote that up or down. In my opinion, that is the only way for you to regain credibility on this issue.