Senator Cruz — human wrecking ball
[Monderson’s Views]
Republican opposition to the Affordable Care Act, the singularly important legislative achievement of President Obama, has been long-standing from day one; that is after his 2008 election victory.
Then, the law was perniciously christened “Obamacare” and later publicized in the most prolific manner as “disaster” and finally later a “train wreck.” As a principal thrust of Republican strategy, a great deal of funds have been allocated and people trained and deployed to emphasize great negativity about the law, all this under the guise of “educating the public.”
A keen observation about the two principals, Senator Ted Cruz and President Obama, is the manner in which they each describe the law. In a recent Press Conference on Monday October 21, President Obama consistently described the law by its proper name, Affordable Care Act; while, Senator Ted Cruz, also in an interview conducted by Dana Bash, CNN’s National Political Correspondent and shown on Candy Crowley’s State of the Union, Sunday October 20, 2013, consistently described the law, nearly a dozen times, as “Obamacare,” and not once by its proper and legal name. This is clearly contempt and disrespect for the man and the law.
As things stand and especially the shutdown of the government fiasco to “defund Obamacare,” concerned persons should take another look at Senator Ted Cruz (R. Texas) who succeed Senator Kay Hutchinson. After “a lengthy 10-month career in the Senate,” clearly it seems Mr. Cruz’s egotistical desire to be Republican leader exposes his philosophy, and when it comes to President Barack Obama it is not really political or ideological, it is tainted by racial animus.
Equally, the problem with “Obamacare” it not that it is a “train wreck,” a popular Republican refrain, but that it represents Obama! The man himself embodied in his blackness along with his family in the White House is what unnerves those who espouse conservative right wing ideology, some have seen as a “lunatic fringe.” These people in America speak of “Heritage,” but it seems actually a Heritage encased in the appalling experiences and mentality of slavery and its resultant discriminatory and racist social and psychological scarification. This state of mind is what President Obama intends to move his nation past, but as we know, old ideas die hard.
As such, any reasonable person listening to Senator Cruz will probably realize his ideas insistently as they are about “Obamacare,” are not original but he seems to be parroting his handlers’ views. The problem with Cruz, he is the “wrecking ball,” the “train wreck”.
As such, if Senator Cruz is the face of and represents the future ideology of American leadership we must begin praying hard and loud for the Republic because it is not simply heading over the fiscal and other cliffs, but across the edge of global human experience, decency and existence. After all, such adamant objection to the law, at least, dates to former Senator Jim DeMint’s insisting on “Obama’s Waterloo,” and he may still be stoking such fires from his new leadership of the Heritage Foundation.
So we ask, can intelligence be devoid of reasonable practical thinking? For example, in the recent 2012 Presidential Election, former Speaker Newt Gingrich has often been described as “The most intelligent man in the room.” Well, we saw what happened to him after he declared, “I’ll be the nominee!” Now, we’re being told how intelligent Mr. Cruz is. A very appropriate question is whether he is a “Newt Redux.”
That is, given Mr. Cruz’s “Obamacare is a train wreck” mentality, it may be only a matter of time before his speeding fireball jumps the track. Yet, it is thus amazing how one interview can teach so much. That is, given the legislation in question is entitled “Affordable Care Act” and this highly intelligent Senator in his interview not once in a dozen times used the legal name and Mr. Obama consistently in the same number of times used the correct legal title gives an indication of the disinformative nature of the Republican strategy.
We must remember, The New York Times article expressed how many persons are engaged by the more than 20-named conservative organizations involved in this fight and that they are actively training thousands to educate people about facts of the health care law. However, in as much as these people were so much against the law, Affordable Care Act, it stands to reason they could only spread disinformation about the measure to sow negativity and dislike for a legislative effort designed to help millions of Americans who are now without health care and desperately need the afforded protections.
On the other hand, President Obama gave a Press Conference and explained some dynamics of events surrounding the Affordable Care Act’s roll-out that has been plagued with problems. The bumpy beginning has been described as having glitches, kinks, even bugs, but no one was more disturbed about its problematic failure than Mr. Obama himself. Nevertheless, in a dozen or more instances, he correctly named the law Affordable Care Act and not once “Obamacare.” A laughable example of the same confusion can be seen in “What’s in a name” approach.
When some persons were asked “Do you like the Affordable Care Act,” they responded yes, it is good.
When asked, “Do you like Obamacare?” they said “No, it is bad.” To repeat, the source of this confusion can be seen explained in The Times article that mentioned thousands of young people trained and sent to “explain Obamacare;” when in fact, these propagandists are spreading disinformation to ensure the law fails despite its purpose. After all, using “Obamacare” as their principal focus, President Obama said, “Republican signature idea was to shutdown the government” if they could not get their way and will now “go harder with the website woes.” But, the President reminded, “this battle was not waged around a website,” and insisted, “but so millions of Americans can get affordable care.” Of course, customers can by-pass the website and apply by phone or contact centers specifically designed for walk-in assistance.
Mr. Obama took the time to explain and despite the spewing negativity, he provided a more positive spin about the Act and even with the underlying conditions, the Affordable Care Act offers “new benefits and protections,” some never knew they had or exercised. He explained pre-existing conditions are covered; children can stay on their parents’ health insurance plans until age 26; seniors accrue saving on their prescription plans; women will get mammograms and free birth control through their employer plans. All this is because the Affordable Care Act created competition where there was none. Now insurance companies must compete, but they will still get new tax credits.
Mr. Obama further pointed out Healthcare.gov was visited 20 million times. The belief is, if 3-7 million young people enroll, 6 in 10 persons can get covered for less than $100.00 per month. This has been called a balanced risk pool. However, unless the technological problems are resolved, the same young people needed to keep costs low may not sign up. As such, down the road, a lackluster risk pool will drive up costs. Nevertheless, December enrollment for January 1 coverage is still do-able. Even still, since open enrollment ends in March, enrollment may pick up as time moves on! Notwithstanding, so far, some 500,000 consumers submitted completed applications that are now being checked and processed. Pressing the positive image and benefits of the health care law, President Obama reiterated:
1. The product is good.
2. Health insurance is good and it saves money.
3. The demand is there;
4. People are excited;
5. Women can buy insurance for premiums same as they had before;
6. Women can secure insurance for maternity and preventive care.
Addressing the initial problems, further Mr. Obama pointed out, “The law is more than a Website. The essence of the law is working just fine.” He admitted problems in the roll-out and that experts are working 24/7 to fix them. Yet, he reminded persons, it is only 3-weeks into a 6-month open-enrollment period. Most important, however, he reassured, because the law is good, “The insurance plans will not run out, will not sell out. And, insisting that “Health Care is not a privilege but a right to enjoy,” President Obama promised “I intend to deliver on this pledge.”
Informing that the website is not the only way to purchase insurance, he also mentioned other avenues off-line where persons could download an application, fill it in and mail it. There are also call centers where real people, Navigators, will answer all questions at 1-800-318-2596, within a time frame of 25-minutes for an individual and 45-minutes for a family. Individual states are also conducting their own programs to assist the application process.
Next the President implored the anti-Obamaites to “stop rooting for its failure because Medicaid and Medicare individuals want this insurance.” The bottom line is, he stated: “Health Insurance is good; prices are good; it’s a good deal; and people are signing up to buy this insurance that will give them medical security.”
All this notwithstanding, contrary to the views Mr. Obama expressed about the virtues of the Affordable Care law, Senator Cruz could not find anything positive about it and keeps repeating his negative spin on the law. His stance, somewhat manufactured, is reminiscent of Congressman Ron Paul’s 2012 answer to the question, “Can you name one good thing President Obama has done?”
In response, this Congressman, supposedly a paragon of liberal Republican virtues, studied long and hard and could not think of one single good thing Mr. Obama has done to benefit the American people. Not the Lilly Ledbetter, equal pay for women, law; Rescue of the Auto Industry which their workers acknowledged; bail out of Wall Street and aiding the Banking Industry’s significant rebound from the 2008 mess; instituting new financial and economic policies; put in place efforts to reduce pollution and reliance on foreign oil sources; Credit Card and Student Loan reforms; Aid to States to retain teachers, firemen and police officers; Negotiating and ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; getting Osama bin-Laden and decimating Al Qaeda’s top leadership; efforts to compensate black farmers; enabling mothers to return to college, and much more. Either Mr. Paul was getting forgetful or he was parroting the negative mantra that not only earned Republicans the “Party of No” label, but in their subsequent post-shutdown slide today is voted unfavorably by two-thirds of the American people. Now, we see Mr. Cruz following in these same footsteps.
He has divided his party and had them “Shooting at each other.” Representative Peter King (R – New York) thinks him “a fraud” and wants to “neutralize him.” His fool’s errand of leading the charge to shutdown the government and inconveniencing untold numbers of the American people, soiling America’s image abroad with his brinksmanship; and even unintentionally enabling China to voice concerns about American global leadership, has earned Mr. Cruz great enmity by many Americans.
Thus, in evaluating Crux, Obama and Affordable Care Act, the first is bad for America; the second is good; and the third is even better.
