A friend who toiled in the magazine business tells a story. In the mid-1970s, the publisher of their national news weekly took him to lunch to celebrate how well things were going. Circulation and ads were both roaring, making for happy campers all around.
As he clinked Martini glasses with my friend, the publisher declared, “The dogs like the dog food!”
The story’s glib disdain for the customers comes as a well-timed metaphor. Unfortunately for President Obama, American voters don’t like the crap he is plopping in their food dishes.
Now they are doing something about it. His health-care monstrosity has turned simmering discontent into a battle cry of resistance and cost him iron-clad control of the US Senate.
That Ted Kennedy’s seat in Massachusetts was the scene of the smack-down spells out the dimensions of the anger. Obama went to Harvard Law School, but apparently never learned the lessons of the first Boston Tea Party.
And so his arrogance and the heavy hand of big government sparked the second. A year to the day after he made history by taking the oath, he stands on the wrong side of a new American revolution.
It’s hard to believe how quickly the nation has turned against Obama and the Democratic Party. Then again, it feels like an eternity since he swept into office on a tide of good will and hope.
Remember how he would unite the country? And boost the economy? As his faith in government grows, the public’s faith in him declines. Even the stock market rose yesterday on expectations that the Obama agenda would be stalled.
It is a remarkable fall from grace for a man who squandered a mandate and basic trust. Even he cannot govern without the consent of the governed.
The victory by little-known Republican Scott Brown marks the third time where a state Obama won in 2008 has turned thumbs down on him in the last three months. Starting with Virginia and New Jersey, each GOP victory has sharpened the sense that he wildly overreached in forcing the country to take a sharp left turn.
While it is true he inherited an economic mess and two wars, the electorate is concluding his policies have made things worse. That fully half the country views his first year as a failure marks a record decline in presidential score keeping.
Obama has only himself to blame. While the far-left barons of Congress played their predictable part, the president has played their eager accomplice.
Historians will judge whether he led or followed them. For now, it’s sufficient to say they are in the soup together.
Yet still they show only defiance. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed the health-care package would become law “one way or the other.” With only about 35 percent of the public supporting it, she has picked a fight with an angry public. Does she not believe in democracy?
Most disheartening, the White House has boarded her ship of fools. Politico.com reports Obama will respond to the defeat with a “combative turn.”
Apparently his hostility and contempt for dissent was his Mr. Nice Guy routine. The article quotes an aide saying the president has no doubts about his course and growing opposition “reinforces the conviction to fight hard.”
This madness was echoed by White House flack Robert Gibbs, who chalked up the anger over the health bills to public ignorance of the benefits.
Yes, that must be it. It isn’t possible the dogs don’t really like the dog food!
It must be the packaging and the selling job. And so in coming days, watch as the best and brightest reach for shinier labels and loftier adjectives.
They should beware. These American dogs bite.
Stand up & shout down our senators
Lo and behold, the growing revolt against Obama-care finally is surfacing in solidly liberal New York. May wonders never cease.
The family feud involves unions, doctors, nurses, immigrant advocates and some pols protesting what organizers call “destructive provisions” in the legislation.
Even more shocking, their rally at City Hall today aims to pressure Dems Sen. Chuck Schumer and his hand puppet, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, into rejecting President Obama’s plans. Organizers say the Senate bill especially “would devastate” the city’s sprawling health-care system.
The tough language echoes what Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Paterson have been saying for nearly a month. They argue that adding nearly a million New Yorkers to the Medicaid rolls alone would cost taxpayers at least $1 billion a year. They also complained about higher Medicare taxes and cuts in some programs.
But Schumer and Gillibrand rejected the arguments, showing they don’t understand what’s actually in the bill they voted for. Either that or their loyalty is to Obama and the national party instead of the people they represent.
Neither excuse is good enough. Their failure became clear when Democrats in other states held out until their constituents got bribes or exemptions from onerous cuts or costs.
One leader of the rally, Doctors Council president Dr. Barry Liebowitz, seized on the favored treatment of other states to accuse Schumer and Gillibrand of being “asleep at the wheel.”
Ouch. A simple Band-Aid won’t cover that wound.
Only major surgery on the legislation will do.
PLEDGE TO RENEW JERSEY
TALK about your lousy inheritance. New Jersey’s new Republican governor Chris Christie used his swearing-in yesterday to recount unhappy facts: “We have the largest budget deficit per person of any state in the union. We have the highest tax rates in the nation. We have the highest unemployment rate in over a quarter century.”
He followed with a bold promise: “Today, we are taking a new direction. Today, a new era of lower taxes and higher growth will begin.”
Good for Jersey — and bad for New York.
With Albany stuck in the business-as-usual rut of higher taxes and spending, Christie’s plan should be a wake-up call. If he succeeds, another exodus of families and businesses will cross the river to escape the Vampire State.
Presidents take high road to help Haiti
THE vast misery in Haiti has brought together former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Their joint appeal for donations is in the best spirit of America, a spirit that transcends partisan differences in a true emergency. Missing from their appearance at the White House with Presi dent Obama were the other two living presidents, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter. Both were one-termers, but that doesn’t explain their absence. Poppy Bush did other charity appeals with Clinton, but at 85, he’s slowing down and his son has replaced him in the effort. As for Carter, he’s absent for a different reason. Nobody in the president’s club likes him. Good taste there.
Council perks up
The Citizen’s Union is pushing the City Council to get rid of its lulus and other perks, saying extra pay for committee assignments wastes taxpayer cash and gives Speaker Christine Quinn too much power. Members already get a base pay of $112,500 for the part-time jobs, plus all they can steal.
Anybody believe the council will voluntarily give up a dime? Me neither.