AMERICA BANKRUPT !

Notes of Concern…
…Jackson Blair

AMERICA BANKRUPT !


The President of the United States has said the country will go bankrupt without passage of the health bill.

He made this statement on ABC television.

This one statement should bring chills to every American.

I do not know if the president is correct.

I do know that presidents measure their words very carefully. The slightest slip, misstatement, or even inflection can send markets roiling and cause uneasiness in the land.

Assuming this president knows that, and I think he does, the statement he has uttered is either evidence that we are in deeper economic trouble than we thought, or it is evidence that he has reached the end of his patience in dealing with this issue he has made key to his presidency and the judgment of history.

When President Kennedy went on television to tell the country about the Cuban Missile Crisis he measured his words and came up with the right balance of seriousness and hope. He also quietly sent his family to the mountain safe retreat built for Washington decision makers. In other words, he knew it could be worse than he described to the American people.

When President George W. Bush faced the economic crisis he did not let on to the American people that we were on the edge of collapse. If you read the books being written by those who were in The White House at that time, you will come to understand how close we came to really losing it all.

Now comes President Obama who goes on national television and actually predicts a bankruptcy for the country. He told us he would be a different kind of president. He said he would try to be more transparent. So I am taking him at his word and I believe he is telling us that something has to give.

It has to be difficult for the President. He needs 60 votes to pass his legislation. His party controls both houses of Congress. He doesn’t have the 60 votes.

Published opinion polls seem to indicate the public does not like the legislation in its current form. Congressmen face voters every two years and they can read polls.

Senators get a six-year term. But one third of them must face voters soon. They can also read polls.

The saddest part of this entire situation is that the goal of healthcare for every American is not one on which most Americans cannot agree. As with so many things, it is the “small print” that has brought this effort up short.

One thing President Obama is reported to have told his colleagues on the Democrat side of the aisle in Congress is that should they fail to produce a healthcare plan this time, no president will risk it again.

It looks today like they will fail to produce meaningful change in healthcare. But it should not be an “all or nothing” deal. Surely common ground can be found for a first step, a step in the right direction that will one day bring the dream of healthcare for all to reality.

If the President’s statement about bankruptcy for the country is accurate, then we are in for a very rough ride indeed.