Friday, November 4, 2011

"Can't anybody here play this game?"



When I retired I told myself I was through with being an opinionated fellar regarding politics and have tried to lay low since the end of August when I finally earned the ability to have too much time on my hands.

Although disgusted with all the parties and all their antics, I can't help myself and will again respond when guys at the tavern ask me stuff.

This first post of my "back in the game" mode I want to comment on stuff that would be funny if those saying or doing weren't so dang serious about themselves and what they say and do.


Casey Stengel, who formerly managed the Yankees to several World Series victories, wound up managing the New York Mets when they were still in their start up  mode. Their players were for the most part barely major-league material and they lost a record number of games for that time. His famous public question to sportswriters was
"Can't anybody here play this game?"
That's what I'd like to know about these here politicians. For instance, most if not all of those folks trying to become the nominated candidate of the other major party talk as if - when elected - they will whip out their newly minted wand of power and sweep away by executive order all the bad stuff they've smacked Obama for.

These are modern childish myth-makers in action and their fantasy kingdom is the realm of removing health care reform or ... as they would have you believe the imagery that equates Obamacare as an evil relic to  the evil ring of Suaron in Lord of the Rings. They'd like you to believe that with the stroke of a presidential signature they can toss Obamacare into the molten lava:
"One thing I'd do on Day One if I'm elected president is direct my secretary of health and human services to put an executive order granting a waiver from Obamacare to all 50 states. It is bad law. It will not work. And I'll get that done on Day One." - Mitt Romney 9-7-11 
"And I'll promise you, on Day One, as the president of the United States, that executive order will be signed and Obamacare will be wiped out as much as it can be." — Rick Perry Sept. 7 debate. 
"I'm going to un-pass it on my son's birthday." — Herman Cain Nov. 2 forum with the GOP's Congressional Health Care Caucus.


As they climb off their mighty steed of victory in their imaginative portrayal, the first thing they would do would be a step into an unconstitutional cow pie.

All of them know it, I'm somewhat sure. But then again maybe they are not as smart as they want us to think they are ...  and perhaps all of them assume that you and I don't know about how their promises are pipe dreams.

Here's an interesting quote from from the AP article by Calvin  Woodward and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar that prompted what I'm writing:

A president cannot overturn a law with an executive order.

Moreover, the health law lays out an onerous process for letting individual states off the hook from its requirements; that process cannot begin until 2017.
For a state to be granted a waiver, it must show that it will provide coverage that is at least as comprehensive and affordable as under the federal law.
Also, a state has to insure a comparable number of its residents, and its plan must not add to the federal deficit by shifting costs to Washington.

Finally, a state has to enact its own health law setting up the system envisioned in its waiver request.

Romney's assertion also implies that all states would want to get out of the health care law. That's a doubtful proposition for Democratic-leaning states.

Cain recognizes that for the law to be repealed, Congress must act.

But presidents don't set the congressional calendar, and even if Republicans can secure a 60-vote majority that gives them control of the Senate, the train of legislation seldom runs on schedule. - The Myths of Obamacare in the GOP Campaign 

The more preposterous, outlandish and downright silly the campaign promises - coupled with wide-eyed stares of pretended competency - ought to leave us shaking our head.

Can't anybody here play this game?

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