I want to take a different angle on this topic. Let's take a step back from the partisan rhetoric, the specific line-item issues, the dire predictions of what will happen if this legislation does or doesn't get passed.
To a greater or lesser degree I've followed politics since the Johnson administration and I don't know if I've ever heard such extreme, far-out attacks mounted against a set of legislation proposals: The government will force you to sign away all your assets. The government will euthanize the elderly or disabled, just as the Nazis did. This isn't rational discourse about policy, this is hysteria. All of this makes me curious: What is really going on here?
There's a concept I've learned that says when people get hysterical about something, then the hysteria is probably not about whatever appears to be the topic at hand. For instance: If I am confronted with an immediate threat (a speeding car bearing down on me, a mugger with a knife) it is highly unlikely that I'll go all to pieces in that moment. I'll be too busy responding to the threat with some sort of appropriate behavior, but I won't be flipping out. If this is true, then what might the health-care hysteria be about?
On that November night in 2008 when Barack Obama was elected President, this nation changed forever. A little more than a dozen decades after the time in this country when being African-American was tantamount to a life sentence to enslavement, an African-American was elected - not to one of the highest offices in the land, but to the highest office, a position of immense symbolic and historic significance, a position often considered to be the most powerful in the world.
I think that the shock waves of this event are still reverberating, but they're not being fully acknowledged. As Americans always do after any election, everyone is simply trying to go about their business, managing the best they can regardless of how they may feel about the election results. This is an important part of how our democracy survives, even after events like the Gore-Bush debacle.
But I think that Obama's election is much, much bigger than Gore v. Bush and other such problems. I think that the fact of Obama's election is an affront to the core beliefs of millions of Americans, core beliefs such as, What does being an American mean to me? What does the presidency mean to me? What does it mean to be white, to be black?
Obviously, this is not a major issue for those who voted for Obama, and it may not be an issue for many of those who voted for McCain. But I suggest that, for a great number of people, Obama's election has turned an important part of their world upside-down, and these people are still reeling.
Now, think for a moment what it means to be afraid. I don't mean scary-movie momentarily afraid, I mean deep-in-your-gut implacably afraid. Afraid like end-of-the-world afraid. This is a very bad feeling. Such a feeling would affect anyone's behavior. Such a feeling could cause anyone to behave irrationally.
If I can imagine just for a moment that I was a lot more of a racist than I am (I'm not going to pretend that I have no racist sentiments whatsoever), then I could see how the advancement of Barack Obama would be my worst nightmare. How would I be able to feel as patriotic as I always have when a “n-----” has just been put in charge of the country I love? I would imagine that I would feel devastated, with nowhere to turn.
I want to take this exercise in imagination one step further. Now it seems that this black president wants to change everything, and change it quickly. He even seems to be demanding change. At this point, my fear might become panic.
The definition of “panic” is “a sudden overwhelming fear... that produces hysterical or irrational behavior... that often spreads quickly through a group (dictionary.reference.com).” Isn't this exactly what's going on right now during the August congressional recess as our representatives meet with their constituents?
Just as he did when the Jeremiah Wright issue hit the fan during the campaign, I call upon President Obama to speak more directly to this greater issue, this meta-issue that I feel is driving the intense opposition to health care reform. I cannot think of any greater legislative challenge facing our aging populace and our crippled economy than health care reform.
If this reform fails or if it passes in some useless watered-down form, it will be many years before there will be the political will to tackle this problem again. I believe that it is of the utmost importance that health care reform succeeds in a resounding manner and that it succeeds now. I also believe that President Obama is the right man at the right time to lead the charge, and the right man to address the greater issues that are impeding progress.
What do you think? Why are people so worked up about health care reform? Do you think it could be a reaction against the Obama presidency in general? How do you feel about health care reform? Do you think the president is doing a good job in general? How well is the president handling health care reform?
