An irresistible force meets an immovable object

by David Grand
March 10, 2010

Never was that so true as in the on-going donnybrook in Congress over health reform, where the only thing the two parties can agree on is to disagree. And with the gulf between them so wide that not even the most daring tightrope walker would dare risk trying to cross it.
And as I watched that so-called summit meeting (dragging on to the point of my being as exhausted as if I had travelled along an unending road), I formed the following opinions:

• That Republicans were as uncomfortable in being there as I'd be at an opera. And that were it not for the public scorn they'd receive by boycotting the meeting, it could have been held at a bridge table rather than at that large table because of no-shows.
• That even though they tried their hardest to remain deadpan throughout the meeting, they couldn't help but grimace and squirm in their unpadded seats whenever the president made a point contrary to their beliefs.
• That, when all was said and done, the gathering was about as useful as an umbrella in a hurricane and achieved little more than to reveal the futility of extending an olive branch to Republicans without it being throwing back in splinters
• That Republicans should wash their mouths out with soap by claiming that the majority of Americans are totally against the proposed health reform package (including the public option). (As Joseph Goebbels, the arch propagandist in the Nazi Party said, "If you tell the people a lie often enough, they'll believe it."
• That the Republicans solution to start all over again from scratch is as fatuous as suggesting that the championship hockey game between the U.S. and Canada should be replayed in a 2 out of 3 contest.
• That the same age-old complaints made by Republicans when Medicare was being debated in 1964 and Social Security in 1935--namely, that they would put the country on the road to a socialistic form of government is as invalid today as it was back then. (And I'd bet you could count on one hand those, who would now balk at receiving the benefits of those programs.)
• That it's a no-brainer, that the Democrats will have to go it alone through the reconciliation process, if there's ever to be a straight up-and-down vote on health reform..

In sum, in order for for health reform to get across the finish line, the president has to have the stick-to-itiveness and fortitude of an Alpine mountain climber, the persuasive and "arm-twisting" talents of LBJ, the straight talking manner of Truman, and a dash of Reagan's sense of humor