Really?
Speaking about the Tea Party members and health insurance in general, President Clinton stated the other day that it is wonderful that we live in a society that allows free and open discussion of any topic, but that we should play more nicely when things get heated. The president went on to say that, “the words we use really do matter…that words have consequences.” His reasoning is that normal folk and crazies hear the same words and react differently. It’s the same reasoning that says that violence on television and videos cause violence, and that a few crazies may act or react to what they have seen.
Continuing the president’s theory, he can’t have it both ways, because it works both ways. Remember how strongly those in Arizona and elsewhere stood up against the national health insurance mandate? Remember the elevated voices trying as they might to be heard, loudly stating their opposition to the content of the Arizona health insurance mandate, the national health insurance mandate, and the process by which they passed? And those against the medical insurance mandate were not just Tea Party members, many were everyday citizens not associated with any particular group against this bill. Did the elected officials listen to the demands of the voters? Of course not, they went against the will of the people. Words don’t matter it would seem.
Did our stand against the health insurance bill matter one bit to President Obama? Of course not. He smugly laughs off those involved in the Tea Party movement, suggesting that they should be thanking him. This is the leader of the free world, our leader? The president has chosen to taunt the Tea Party members instead of reassuring them that the mandate to buy health insurance is the right thing to do. Every chance he gets he ridicules those against his medical insurance fiasco, dancing in the end zone, rubbing their nose in the passage of his health care reform.
Whatever happened to a leader living by the words, “if I can’t makes things better, at least I won’t make things worse.” President Obama’s job is to lead. He was elected to make things better, not make fun of those that stand in opposition to his policies, of which there are many.
Michael Higgins
602.405.8769
An Arizona health insurance broker.