Filibuster CartoonsTitle: Pay no attention to that recession (click to view)
Date: November 10, 2010
The soon-to-be-installed Republican majority in the US House of Representatives has made no secret that one of their main objectives in the coming legislative session will be the full-scale repeal of Obamacare. Opposition to the President's sweeping healthcare reforms has been a standard GOP talking-point for almost as long as the Democrats have been in favor of them, and as it stands, the issue represents one of the most clear-cut differences between the two parties.
Problem is, the public doesn't seem to care much either way. During the lead-up to the passage of Obamacare, the country was pretty much split 50-50 as to whether or not they approved of the Democratic legislation, a divide which remains virtually unchanged to this day. Hardly a resounding mandate for either side.
Exit polls from last Tuesday's mid-term election likewise indicated that only 17% of American voters considered "healthcare," as an issue in the abstract, their nation's most pressing problem, and of those who did, opinions were all over the map regarding whether the government should get more or less involved in providing and regulating medical insurance.
The number one issue, remains, as it has been for a very long time, the economy and unemployment. According to
this story, a full
90% of voters claimed to have anxieties about the present state of the US economy, perhaps predictably considering that the latest numbers indicate around 10% of the American population remains out of work, with many more having suffered reduced pay or benefits as a result of the current recession.
But how does the government fix such problems? Neither party has offered any readily-apparent solutions, which is likely why they seem to prefer to play in the sandbox of healthcare, an issue that's always been far sexier in the eyes of the governing class. Indeed, even from the perspective of the Democrats, who seem to be the obvious losers in the GOP's desire to reopen the Obamacare debate, revisiting the issue is great politics. After all, in the aftermath of this recent election I'm sure they have horned as many wonderful sophistic, defensive arguments to use in favor of their reforms as the Republicans have assembled sophistic, antagonistic arguments against them. Everyone can have a great ol' time re-fighting a debate the country didn't really want to have in the first place, and no one's on the hook for ignoring more pressing matters, since
both sides can now equally be accused of being instigators of their
own irrelevant healthcare discussion.
Good time to find work as a healthcare lobbyist, though. Maybe
that was Congress' employment plan.
