In Search of a Reasonable Opposition

There are many reasons why someone might feel skeptical about Barack Obama's political agenda. Health care reform and cap and trade are not pedestrian measures -- they will change how this country works and affect everyone in it to some extent. I would frankly be concerned if everyone was on board with such dramatic change...they're the type of issues that we need to have a national debate about. Perhaps the largest issue facing the United States that both parties tend to pay only lip service to is our national debt which continues to balloon wildly. Truthfully, it has been huge for a long time -- as long as I've been alive certainly-- but recently there have been rumors of revolt by our foreign creditors, with China among other nations suggesting the need for a new reserve currency and overall less global dependence on the already battered American economy. To me, at least, the debt and our general economic situation is the main thing that prevents me from supporting health care reform enthusiastically. I loathe the failings of the present system, but sometimes I wonder what the point of reform is if our economy is in danger of a total collapse. How can we build a stronger country on an increasingly unsteady foundation? Don't we need to fix the foundation first?

My main point here is that I think the Obama administration should be questioned and challenged where it matters. Unfortunately, though, I can't help but feel dismayed at the way the political discourse over the past few months has been conducted. The fight for health care reform has by some been framed as a fight for or against "death panels", as if that is an outcome anyone in the administration really desires. Focusing on rationing is reasonable because that's a real consequence of the shortage of resources that government health care programs tend to run into. However, trying to make it seem like the president and other Democrats want to kill people -- to portray them as being essentially evil -- is a hideous distortion designed to scare rather than inspire thought. Even something as insignificant as Obama's speech tomorrow to school children -- basically a glorified pep talk -- has been blown out of proportion and portrayed as a form of intentional indoctrination. The critics were right that the suggested activity for teachers that involved asking students how they could help Obama was inappropriate, but the speech itself is harmless and uncontroversial and totally undeserving of such hype. I honestly don't really LIKE the idea of politicians making speeches directly to children myself. We shouldn't inject politics into the classroom. Still, we shouldn't act like words are poison that children need to be protected from, either. Obama is hardly the first president to address the nation's youth, and for many of the children listening to the president it will probably be a positive and encouraging experience. Hysterical reactions to a pretty innocent matter just make it seem like people will attack Obama for any reason...which they in fact will, for that's how the game of politics is played by both sides in 2009's America.

The most regrettable aspect of not having a reasonable opposition is that it allows hysteria to replace thoughtful debate. Reasonable people who've studied health care reform can't be blamed for deciding, "This death panel stuff isn't in the bill. The Republicans are just making stuff up." The core fiscal issues have been obfuscated by the exaggerations and the theatrics. It may be even worse that energy is being wasted on an issue like the school children speech for that just emboldens supporters of the president who will decry that the president is being unfairly targeted. I've noticed that many people simply see much of the criticism of Obama as being motivated by race -- that's what happens when you put forth silly arguments lacking in substance. What has really been accomplished if health care reform is defeated, the underlying problems with the present system remain unfixed, and the debt to GDP ratio continues to rise unabated due to other government spending (you know, the trillions that Democrats and Republicans can both agree on)? If the fundamental issues aren't addressed when they are most relevant, I doubt they ever will be.