The Real Meaning Of Massachusetts — A Turning Point Or A Tempest In A Teapot??
The Real Meaning Of Massachusetts — A Turning Point Or A Tempest In A Teapot??
By
Ken Eliasberg
After dealing with Health Care Reform — which now appears to be a fading Obama dream — it had been my intention to deal at some length with a report card for Obama with respect to his first year in office. The political earthquake in Massachusetts may not only be a good place to start; it is possibly a good place to conclude, for it very nearly says it all re the public’s reaction to Obama’s first presidential year — a full throated rejection of the proposal that was (and is) at the heart of his agenda, i.e. health care reform. Before going over his first year in some detail, let’s focus for a moment on what happened in Massachusetts, which, from a political standpoint, almost strikes me as an act of Divine Intervention. If you had asked me just two or three months ago whether I thought that a Republican had a chance of winning the seat vacated by Ted Kennedy, I would have questioned your sanity for being so confused as to even pose the question (forgetting for the moment that the seat had pivotal health care significance and that health care reform had been Kennedy’s lifelong goal). Why? Because, while the Kennedys may not have owned Massachusetts, they certainly appeared to have had no less than an option to buy. The seat had been comfortably lodged in Democratic hands for some 50 years (Ted alone had held it since 1962, at which time he reached the age of 30 and thus eligible to serve in the Senate; his brother, Jack, had held it until he became President in 1960). So, of the many political miracles that I had daydreamed about during Obama’s first catastrophic year in office, taking Kennedy’s seat was not high on the list. Once again my faith is restored -there is a God! On to Obama’s 1-year report card, which can be summed up in one word — OBAMINABLE!!!
In a mid-December interview with Oprah Winfrey, Obama, on being asked what grade he would give himself with respect to his first year in office, responded that he thought a B+ might be appropriate. If he was computing his grade based on an assessment of the measure of destruction that he has visited on the fabric of our society then I have to say that he was all too modest; in this regard he deserves an A+++++. If, on the other hand, a grade were being determined on the basis of advancing the American cause, then I would have to say that an F- - - does not adequately describe the incalculable damage that he has done to our country!!
To fully appreciate the enormity of the damage and destruction that Obama has visited, and continues to visit, on America, it is useful to introduce the subject by revisiting the Presidency of Jimmy Carter (which can only be characterized as an absolute train wreck). Indeed, the only thing worse than Jimmy Carter’s presidency has been his ex-presidency, in which he has made, and continues to make, every effort to complete the destructive work undertaken during the 4 years in which he wreaked havoc on this great country. Why revisit Carter’s presidency? Because it offers such a useful perspective in which to really examine what Obama is doing (which can be briefly summarized as making every conceivable effort to finish the work that Carter began — i.e. to turn us into first a Welfare State and then, as a consequence, a Banana Republic - and doing it on a very accelerated and muscular basis). Indeed, Obama is beginning to make Carter look moderate, well intentioned, and almost competent — and I didn’t think anything could come close to doing that.The difference between the 2 is that Carter seemed to lurch uncontrollably into his destructive blunders; Obama knows exactly what he is doing, and he is doing it as rapidly as he possibly can (after all, as Rahm Emmanuel informed us, you don’t want to miss the opportunity to capitalize on a crisis).
First, a brief look at Carter, an incredible incompetent.What was remarkable about Carter’s presidency, and which serves as such a useful jump off point to analyze and evaluate Obama’s efforts, was that he was an equal-opportunity screw-up. That is, he proceeded with such even-handed incompetence that it is virtually impossible to determine whether his foreign policy failures exceeded those of his domestic policy or vice versa. To be more specific, on the foreign policy level, under Carter’s watch we lost Iran (and thus got the Ayatollah Khomeini and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism); we lost Afghanistan to the Soviet Union (and sowed the seeds of Al Quaeda); we lost the Panama Canal (to China); and we, in effect, lost Tai Wan (eventually to China) by virtue of destructive interpretatiaon of the one-China policy. Now that’s a record that I thought would never be surpassed (that is until Obama came along).
But, if you think that’s bad (and, if you don’t, then there’s something’s really wrong with you), his domestic record policy was no less impressive. On the economic front, facing a problem not nearly as serious as the one which now confronts Obama, he managed to push the prime interest rate over 20%, a rate that, to my knowledge, we had not seen before. Needless to say, this decimated the real estate industry as well as wreaked havoc on other segments of our economy. In fact, things were so bad that it gave rise to a new term — “stagflation” (when the economy is stagnant, but we have inflation, an unpleasant combination). He produced two completely useless cabinet posts — the Department of Energy and the Department of Education - both of which do little more that soak up a considerable amount of wealth while accomplishing virtually nothing (other than possibly setting back progress in the areas over which they preside).
All in all, one cannot begin to evaluate the magnitude of the damage that Jimmy Carter did to this country (an undertaking that, as noted, he pursued even more rabidly on his departure from office), In short, Jimmy Carter was — and remains — a political disaster and a less than admirable human being. That said, and looking at Obama on strictly a political (as opposed to a personal) basis, I feel safe in saying that what he has endeavored to do over the past 12 months has made Jimmy Carter look like something between a piker and a patriot (and, as noted, I didn’t believe that anyone could do that, despite the disgraceful effort of the Nobel Commission to burnish the legacy of this pathetic political hack). Now on to his successor — THE CHOSEN ONE! (who appears — even to some of his former supporters — to be less chosen every day).
Returning to the significance of the Mass. Election, it is a double edge sword - the first edge relates to its impact on Obama and his agenda; the second relates to its significance to the Republican Party (its hopes to (1) recapturethe Congress and then the White House, and (2) its transformational effect, if any, on the Party. That is, will it just be business as usual — i.e. the Republican Party’s quest for restoration of its positions of power, or will it speak to them about the wisdom of better representing the people than merely providing a fairly meaningless alternative and a temporary power shift in Washington). We’ll address the first in the continuing course of providing a 1-year report card for Obama; we’ll speculate on the latter down the road. (to be continued).