Posted on 09/24/2013 10:31:03 AM PDT by servo1969
Hoover Institution senior fellow Thomas Sowell argued Tuesday that the defund Obamacare effort is serving as a helpful distraction from President Obamas low approval ratings and the controversies facing the administration.
In his weekly column, Sowell pointed out that while the Obamacare law should be defunded, efforts to defund it are only pulling attention away from Obamas vulnerabilities, including discontent among his own supporters, criticism on Syria, the continuing IRS scandal, Benghazi and the unfolding of the train wreck Obamacare.
What could possibly rescue Barack Obama from all these political problems and create a distraction that takes all his scandals off the front page? Only one thing: the Republicans, Sowell wrote.
By making a futile and foredoomed attempt to defund ObamaCare, Congressional Republicans have created the distraction that Obama so much needs, he continued. Already media attention has shifted to the possibility of a government shutdown.
According to Sowell, the fact that Republicans are not looking to shut the government down does not matter. The real issue is that they have created a distraction large enough to give Obama cover, he said.
While the respected economist wrote harshly about the Republican effort to defund Obamacare, he agreed with the premise, saying the law is an economic disaster and will be a medical disaster, as well as destroy the Constitutions protections of American citizens from the unbridled power of the federal government. It should absolutely be defunded, he said.
He added that both Obama and Chief Justice John Roberts deserve impeachment for arbitrarily waiving laws and his decision upholding Obamacare respectively.
However, Sowell noted, for the same reason that it makes no sense to impeach either President Obama or Chief Justice Roberts, it makes no sense to attempt to defund ObamaCare. That reason is that it cannot be done. The world is full of things that ought to be done but cannot in fact be done.
Everyone has their place, and I think Sowell does not understand a basic point: The pubic WILL hate Obamacare.
The public needs to be reminded, NOW, that the Republican Party is against Obamacare!
With but a moments thought it becomes clear he is simply arguing this is not the time for the battle.
Unfortunately, from a timing perspective there are other dynamics at work, such as voter sentiment and the increasing increase of anti-Constitution socialist momentum and entrenchment. To do nothing in the face of those dynamics seems just as clearly disadvantageous. The Republicans in the Congress should indeed be able to chew gum and walk at the same time.
Quote of the day by Trevor Loudon:
Personally, I have a problem with the whole kneeling before dictators thing.
That, My FRiend, is the fly in the ointment. The Republican Party is, for the most part, for obamacare.
That's one heck of a plan. Risky (especially with the MSM as it is - they'd be chirping about the GOP's "scorched earth plan to de-fund Obamacare" the first time the House rejects the Senate bill), but it could work. The key is keeping on top of the House to hold the line. I have little faith that they will (especially with the House GOP "leadership" as it is - you think Boehner has what it takes to stick to a tough position in the face of an all-out onslaught from the Dems/MSM??), but stranger things have happened.
I agree.
I AM NOT distracted from ALL of 0's Scandals...NOT FOR A MINUTE!!
I stand with Cruz and Lee in this fight, because even if we *lose* we actually win.
The RINORoaches have been exposed as supporters of 0SocialismCare!!
And, Benghazi, Fast & Furious, IRS, NSA...and ALL the others are still in focus, too!
Roberts....he's a big problem...as well as the slimy pubs who kept quiet....even as a minority, they could have mustered up enough resistance....they did it back in the early 1990's against Hitlerycare...
won't go revist the freepers who voted for this creep in chief....as well as the so called conservatives who stayed home, who voted third party, who sat and did nothing...
the ultimate goal was for this to fail....so the national federales can come riding in to save us with universal healt care...
I support your stand. Mr. Sowell is missing something key here. Obama and Obamacare represent the King and his petty bureaucrats who harassed the colonists until they had enough. Reid is Obama’s Cornwallis. Ted Cruz is our George Washington. Obama’s poll numbers don’t count for squat at this time. The fight against Obamacare must be carried on tirelessly and it continues to put the Democrats on defense and it drains their energy. It is the right fight, and it is being fought for the right reasons by the right people. The power being arrayed against the fighters is awesome, but it is not eternal and it WILL fail! We must NOT FAIL!
It’s rare that Dr. Sowell is incorrect about something, which makes times like this really noteworthy. Resistance is *not* futile! We may not win this time, but sometimes it’s better to fight and lose than not to fight at all.
I see what he’s saying about “distractions,” but we can’t let important things be dismissed as such. Technically, everything Obastard does is a distraction.
Amen. Something else will come up (guaranteed). Nothing will come from any scandals. With such corruption entrenched how can anyone be hopeful for a change. We are done - stick a fork in us. Banana Republic, "if we can keep it".
Stranger things have happened. Few of us would have believed that Boehner would have done what he did Friday, but we the people got behind him and pushed, and he got all republicans plus a couple democrats to go for passing a bill funding the government, except for obamacare. Keep up the pressure!! Don’t let them cave.
LEFT WING SHILL!!
Has it occurred to the French Republicans that the true horror of Obamacare hasn’t even kicked in yet?
The GOP always loses the short-term PR battle, but someday as folks watch Death Panels send their family to the grave, at least Ted Cruz can say “I tried to defund this mess.”
He would probably be right if Obama was held accountable by the media like most other presidents, but most of the public doesn’t know about or understand the scandals, and they are just as dead end as the defunding attempt. Obama isn’t going to be held accountable for his illegal actions, he is still breaking the law on a regular basis while thumbing his nose at the two other branches. If nothing else, this will get Democrats in congress on record supporting this terrible law.
If our best option is “Don’t fight the moslem communist,” then I think we need to recheck our list of options because somebody made a calculation error when they narrowed down that list.
After reading all of the other FR patriots in this thread, I have to agree that I disagree with the great Dr Sowell.
We are in a war for the soul of this country. Doing nothing is a decision that is worse than attempting the near impossible. One reason I say that is we absolutely must shove a big hot poker up the rectums of all the Republicans. They have to fear us more than they fear the Dems or the Dem controlled press. They don’t now.
In all honesty though, I can’t conceive of any serious brakes on the despotic US government than serious, large scale civil disobedience. (Bite me NSA). The type of widespread stuff that grinds the daily economy of the US to a very painful halt. Like what broke up the USSR. Because frankly, we are only a few degrees from that level of despotism. After a couple of years of ObamaCare we will have our own Stasi knocking on our doors and hauling us off while our neighbors cower in their homes peeking through the curtains in terror. Soon a lot of your neighbors are going to be informants in order to buy themselves a little protection. You know, that little prick down the street that doesn’t like you or your kids? He’s gonna “SWAT” you.
I don’t believe that Dr Sowell truly realizes how close this country is to real civil disorder on a large scale. One or two of a whole lot of seemingly small things could ignite a firestorm.
It makes no difference.
If the left wasn’t focused on the Republicans for defunding Obamacare or the budget showdown, it would be the shooting in Kenya or Cruz’s Canadian birth or anything else.
The leftist media will always try to cover for their boss.
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