Thursday, January 21, 2010

A note from "Organizing For America" on the meaning of the Massachusetts election


During last year's election unpleasantness, I signed up for every presidential candidate's email list.
This is what Mitch Stewart, one of the Hope'n'Change folks at BarackObama.com sent me this morning. All commentary in italics is mine.

Whited,

--Yesterday's disappointing election results show deep discontent with the pace of change. I know the OFA (Organizing for America) community and the President share that frustration.

Remember reading about the crowd in Italy that shot Mussolini and his mistress, and hung them up by their heels in front of a gas station? Here's how Mitch Stewart of Organizing For America would've written the headline:

"ITALIAN CITIZENS SHOW DEEP DISCONTENT WITH FASCISTS' PACE OF CHANGE"

We also saw what we knew to be true all along: Any change worth making is hard and will be fought at every turn.

But what about the changes that aren't worth making? The unbelievable comments I see on my Statist friends' blogs and Facebook pages can be boiled down to one comment: "So we're supposed to sit back and do nothing?"
No. We could allow insurance companies to compete in any state they choose. We could have a medical malpractice reform bill written by someone other than trial lawyers. We could do all of this stuff. We could ask ourselves why the infamous Big Pharma and Big Insurance lobbyists were pushing so hard for this bill.
But there really is something worse than doing nothing, and Massachusetts rejected it.

While it doesn't take away the sting of this loss, there is no road to real change without setbacks along the way.

And may your road to real change be crowded with roadblocks, potholes, speed traps, detours, flat tires, radiator problems, psycho-libertarians with gun racks in their pickup trucks, faulty road maps, highway patrolmen who have to meet a quota, construction crews, complicated New Mexico fuel taxes, and may you have 4 kids in your back seat with a McDonald's at every exit. May the Texas Department Of Transportation crawl up your ass and pitch a tent and regulate your every move. May your road to the changes you envison have no end. May you get further and further from home while getting no closer to anything like a destination. May you wander homeless for the rest of your days.
There. I feel better now.

We could have simply sought to do things that were easy, that wouldn't stir up controversy.
But changes that aren't controversial rarely solve the problem.
Our country continues to face the same fundamental challenges it faced yesterday. Our health care system still needs reform.

May I politely suggest one more time that you go here and read this proposal for healthcare "reform"? It would cut costs in half. It does has one glaring defect: there's virtually no room for graft, kickbacks, rent-seeking, or corruption. None of it will ever be implemented.

Wall Street still needs to be held accountable.

Agreed. So when are you going to stop giving them our money? Is there a timeline in place?

We still need to create good jobs.

No. You. Don't. You can't. You need to get out of the way and stop punishing entrepreneurs so good jobs can be created. You're confusing the roles of the quarterbacks and the cheerleaders.

And we still need to continue building a clean energy economy.
The President isn't walking away from these challenges. In fact, his determination and resolve are only stronger. We must match that commitment with our own.

But Jim Webb and Evan Bay and Blanche Lincoln are already back-pedaling like circus monkeys. Have they gotten this email?

But it won't be easy. Real change never is. For that reason, I am grateful you're part of this fight with us.

Thank you,

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America

I'm still trying to get over someone interpreting yesterday's slapdown as a sign of discontent with the pace of change. Does anyone out there buy it? Anybody? Anywhere?

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