He promised 'universal health care' -- or led voters to believe that he was promising that. Then he got into office. Two Saturdays ago, he made sure that the weak public option he was frequently speaking of wasn't even necessary to him when a plan finally got put together. The Health and Human Services Secretary began echoing him and when the outrage was immense, it got walked back and the press apparently all decided to rewrite history and just blame Kathleen Sebelius, to act as if only she had said the public option wasn't all that important and to erase Barack from the narrative.
Barry O's a celebrity and they can only live before the cameras so Barry O's vacationing at Martha's Vineyard.
The economy's in the tank and he's jetted off to the Vineyard?
Bill and Hillary Clinton did vacation at Martha's Vineyard. In part, they vacationed there and elsewhere because they didn't have a home. They'd gone from the governor's mansion to the White House. Now George W. Bush had a home. His home was in Texas and that's where he vacationed. He also vacationed in Maine, as did his father, because the Bushes have property there as well.
Barack and Michelle Obama own a house (praise be, Tony Rezko). It's a mansion. It's a house that cost over a million dollars. So why aren't they vacationing in Chicago? Or why not vacation in that 'home' state of Hawaii?
And why is Barack taking a vacation when the US is involved in at least three wars (don't forget Pakistan), the economy is in the toilet and he can't push through his health care 'plan'?
Seems to us instead of attempting to hob knob and run around shirtless in front of the cameras, he needs to sit his ass down in the Oval Office and get to work.
For those who've forgotten, Barack promised to have health care addressed before Congress went on its August recess. Congress is now on its August recess. There is no plan. There is still no plan. He's got Democrats in Congress trying to sell people on a plan that doesn't exist. The Democrats in the House and the Senate cannot reach consensus on what should be in the plan and yet they're supposed to sell it, this non-existent plan.
How the hell did this happen?
We think the answer can be found in Little Giant. In that film, Lou Costello plays a moron who is a weak and inexperienced salesman with a really thin resume but ends up, through various misunderstandings, being promoted up the chain. Remind you of anyone?
We also believe the answer lies in confusion deriving from the Bush administration. As someone so historically ignorant that he believes he's visited "the other 57 states" in the United States, Barack obviously has no real knowledge of this country. So seeing Bush vacationing and Dick Cheney running things, he must have thought the presidency was the ceremonial post and the vice presidency the back breaking one. Silly Barry.
Now all he wants to do is smile for the cameras and wave. But people expect him to work. No doubt, he'll need a vacation to recover from his vacation.
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Illustration is Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Full On Federline."