Franken: The losing game

  • By Bob Franken
  • Saturday, February 15, 2014 4:43pm
  • Opinion

I’ve described politics as the dark side of government, but, as usual, things have gotten worse: To a large extent anymore, politics is just about all there is to government, certainly on the national level. The sad election choice for Americans has degenerated into “Pick Your Poison.” Republicans largely offer a field of bizarre extremist candidates who not only should be laughed off the stage but shouldn’t have been in the theater in the first place. They are enabled by Democrats, who are so inept that they waste every opportunity to advance their progressive agenda.

Their standard-bearer for now is Barack Obama, of course, but he and his peeps are blowing their chance to shape the country in their image. The most glaring example is Obamacare. My old friend Ron Fournier, who proves that “respected journalist” is not necessarily an oxymoron, cites in the National Journal how, “It’s getting difficult and slinking toward impossible to defend the Affordable Care Act.” His frustration boils over at the latest decision to delay another employer mandate till after the midterm election, which Fournier describes as further proof that “The White House has politicized its signature policy.”

Setting aside the criticism that the law itself was twisted by special-interest lobbyists and a ruthless GOP opposition into a Rube Goldberg substitute for genuine reform, it still offers some improvement for millions of people who had been shut out of their right simply to be well. The administration’s carelessness between passage and reality has undermined its credibility. It’s worsened even now by a White House that lurches, blinded by shortsightedness.

Even with the latest report that more people are signing on, the mixed messages give powerful ammunition to those whose passion it is to destroy the current presidency by demonizing Obama and flogging him with his signature program. He makes it easy by symbolically wearing a “Kick Me” sign.

He’s allowed Sen. Ted Cruz and others of his ilk to thrive. Frankly, Cruz should have been shoved to the side, considering how last year he was out front demanding repeal of health care as the price to avoid a government shutdown and national financial default. When that blew up in his face, the Democrats had him on the run for only a very short time. Immediately, the grotesque collapse of the healthcare.gov website, followed by disclosures of outright misrepresentations by the president and the frightened veering like this latest delay, allowed Cruz and his running buddies to regain traction in a big hurry.

They’ve learned that they can have it both ways. They can demagogue the debt-ceiling issue, for instance, knowing full well that their weary leaders will see to it that a disaster is avoided. In the House, Speaker John Boehner is taking heat for rescuing the crazies from themselves. In the Senate, it’s Minority Leader Mitch McConnell fending off Cruz, who couldn’t care less that McConnell’s re-election is endangered back home in Kentucky.

The hard-liners could vote against new borrowing authority and brag to their voters back home that they did, secure in the knowledge that they would not take the blame for forcing the nation into financial disgrace. While there will be some distractions this year, like immigration reform (don’t bet on that one), the thicket has been cleared. The campaign is about Obamacare.

Democrats will have to play defense, mired in the garble from the White House. Cruz and the others can lick their chops as they contemplate the real possibility of controlling the entire Congress for two years and then taking the whole shebang in 2016, stuffing even Hillary. She, of course, saw her own effort at health-care reform go down in flames. Maybe it has become a political fourth rail, but now that Barack Obama has grabbed it, he can’t let go. Ted Cruz and the others won’t.

Bob Franken is a longtime broadcast journalist, including 20 years at CNN.

More in Opinion

Promise garden flowers are assembled for the Walk to End Alzheimer’s at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Opinion: Let’s keep momentum in the fight against Alzheimer’s

It’s time to reauthorize these bills to keep up our momentum in the fight to end Alzheimer’s and all other types of Dementia.

Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., questions Navy Adm. Lisa Franchetti during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Sept. 14 on Capitol Hill.
Opinion: Music to the ears of America’s adversaries

Russia and China have interest in seeing America’s democracy and standing in the world weakened

Dr. Sarah Spencer. (Photo by Maureen Todd and courtesy of Dr. Sarah Spencer)
Opinion: Alaskans needs better access to addiction treatment. Telehealth can help.

I have witnessed firsthand the struggles patients face in accessing addiction care

Former Gov. Frank Murkowski speaks on a range of subjects during an interview with the Juneau Empire in May 2019. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)
Opinion: Need for accounting and legislative oversight of the permanent fund

There is a growing threat to the permanent fund, and it is coming from the trustees themselves

(Juneau Empire File)
Opinion: Imagine the cost of health and happiness if set by prescription drug companies

If you didn’t have heartburn before seeing the price, you will soon — and that requires another prescription

Mike Arnold testifies in opposition to the use of calcium chloride by the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities on Kenai Peninsula roads during a Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2023, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai Peninsula Votes: Civic actions that carried weight

Watching an impressive display of testimony, going to an event, or one post, can help so many people learn about something they were not even aware of

The Kasilof River is seen from the Kasilof River Recreation Area, July 30, 2019, in Kasilof, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
Opinion: Helicopter fishing a detriment to fish and fishers

Proposal would prohibit helicopter transport for anglers on southern peninsula

The cover of the October 2023 edition of Alaska Economic Trends magazine, a product of the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. (Image via department website)
Dunleavy administration’s muzzling of teacher pay report is troubling

Alaska Economic Trends is recognized both in Alaska and nationally as an essential tool for understanding Alaska’s unique economy

Image via weseeyou.community
5 tips for creating a culture of caring in our high schools

Our message: No matter what challenges you’re facing, we see you. We support you. And we’re here for you.

The Alaska State Capitol is photographed in Juneau, Alaska. (Clarise Larson/Juneau Empire File)
Opinion: Vance’s bill misguided approach to Middle East crisis

In arguing for her legislation, Vance offers a simplistic, one-dimensional understanding of the conflict

A rainbow appears over downtown as residents check out rows of electric vehicles at Juneau’s EV & E-bike Roundup on Sept. 23. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire File)
Opinion: We should all pay more for the privilege of driving

Alaska has the lowest gas tax in the country

tease.
Opinion: Sports saves

ASAA has decided to take a vulnerable subgroup of these youth and reinforce that they are different and unwelcome