Two Quick Weekend Notes: Timing And Temerity.



Two Quick Weekend Notes: Timing And Temerity.  Like the lazy man who is not bothered by work (he can sit and watch it for hours), there are two political stories that I have no understanding of but am fascinated by.  On a quick entry into the weekend, I will comment on each.

The first one is the House investigation into the IRS; Ms. Lois Lerner in particular.  The political theatre between the House Republicans and the Administration, the House committee members themselves, and between the witnesses and the panel is truly fascinating.  At the end of the day, however, I find one fact extremely troubling.  I am a retired federal employee, having worked 30+ years with the USDA.  It is incomprehensible to me that a person can work a sufficient amount of time with the government to retire, sit before a Congressional committee that is authorized with oversight of their respective department, claim they are innocent of any wrong doing or lawlessness, and then hide behind legalese to refuse testimony.   The temerity required for this is truly astounding and if the House panel in question allows it to stand; they are not worth the seats and microphones that accommodate their committee meetings.  Why in heaven’s name this woman, who is currently on a government pension, is permitted to draw a retirement check from the IRS while refusing to disclose her work record and performance to a House oversight committee without being held in contempt is astounding.  If the House panel in question does not find this woman in contempt and thus compel her testimony, they may as well return home and serve as U.S. Representative’s in their own communities; they will do more good there.   It is equally dismaying to have an IRS Administrator tell the same committee that producing subpoenaed records will take YEARS when that is clearly an effort at stonewalling.  The arrogance that breeds this temerity starts with the President and no one with this attitude should draw a government paycheck.  There is no honor in this behavior and it places a stain on all federal employees who are trying everyday to do their jobs the right way.   The IRS scandal of political targeting is a scandal of enormous proportion and is doing irreparable damage to the integrity (what might be left of it anyway) of our government.

The other story I find so compelling is the ongoing saga of Obamacare.  As far as the Republicans (both House and Senate) are concerned, it is all about timing.  As I have written before, the Democrats gleefully rammed the ACA through Congress using extraordinary procedures and without…one…single…Republican…vote.  That, my friends, is as partisan as it gets.  But now that they have passed it to find out what is in it, the Democrats (especially the Senators running in competitive races) are screaming bloody murder that the Republicans won’t help them fix the ACA up so it can stay on the road and out of the ditch.    The ACA is fundamentally flawed and cannot be repaired; it needs to be repealed and reborn.  However, anything is possible in this political zoo we call WDC.  The term ACA cannot be repealed because it was a “landmark”; yet it cannot stand as it is written because it makes no damn sense at all.  Republicans are bound and determined to keep the program bleeding until past the mid-terms.  A few (and growing) number of Democrats are pressing Mr. Reid to open up the floor for some amendments to make the law more politically palatable and to try and save their respective  hides at the November polls.  Until one party gains sufficient strength in Congress and the White House to either repeal it or repair it, we are at a standstill.  The Democrats deserve the Obamacare pox on their house for their totally irresponsible passage of a bad law without any effort whatsoever at bipartisanship or honest debate.  This lack of good will is only accentuated by the fact that many of the “changes” sought by embattled Senate Dems are features first proposed by Republicans prior to ACA passage.   They should pay a heavy price for their folly and all the pain and damage they have done to this nation through Obamacare.  On the other hand, stretching out the Democrat’s agony through the mid-terms when it so very clear that the bleeding needs to be staunched is something that the Republicans should be concerned about.  Can this tragedy last until the second week of November?  I suppose we will just have to watch and see.  Will the Republicans yield to the obvious and increasing need to gut Obamacare, remove the mandate, and rework it into new health care provisions that can be supported by both parties?  Will that yielding come before the mid-terms or will they insist on holding out to the max, gaining their deserved pound of flesh but extending the misery of the populace who live under the constraints of Obamacare? Will the Democrats be willing to buck their President, rework his landmark legislation to the point where it is unrecognizable but functional, and possibly even (wait for it…) rename it in order to reflect its makeover and admit to its initial folly?  Such action by either party would require the type of leadership and statesmanship that we have not seen in WDC for ages.  I fear that wishing for anything akin to it is nothing more than a pipe dream.