Palm's Progress/The Wrong Side of History--Again!

[One expression of hate speech that I can support:  Pike Place Market, Seattle, Jan. 24, 2009.}

Weighed in today--Easter Sunday--at 182.6.  I couldn't run on Friday; we were in the midst of a bad Pacific storm.  But I ran yesterday--3.1 miles, covering 6.7 in all.
       The big news yesterday was that a Florida urologist posted a sign on his front door telling Obama supporters to seek their medical treatment elsewhere.  In all fairness, he claims he would never refuse medical treatment to an Obama supporter; he would just prefer not to treat such people.  Still, for me at least, the sign itself carries a disturbing historical resonance.  It reminds me of the photos I've seen of intimidating signs posted on the windows of Jewish shops in Hitler's Germany.  These signs virtually commanded German citizens not to buy from Jewish merchants.
       I've said it before, and I'll say it again: it's not Obama and his supporters who are on the wrong side of history.
        This being Easter, I'll step out of character and indulge in a prayer of sorts:  God save us from the people who think they're saving the country.  --EFP

Palm's Progress

[In February, 2006, I was part of an educator's trip to China.  We visited a number of Chinese educational institutions, including a medical school, where we were introduced to this high-tech resuscitation simulator named "Medi-Man."]

Weighed in today at 185.7.  I'm pleased to report that I ran 3 miles, covering 6.55, and I caught up on my grading.
      The big news today is that 14 states, including mine, have filed suit against the federal government, charging that the new health care plan is unconstitutional.  The principal argument seems to be that the federal government cannot compel people to purchase anything from a private company, much less health insurance.  
       By extension of that logic, is it not unconstitutional for the states to compel drivers to purchase automobile insurance from private companies?   Of course, one could argue that requiring drivers to be insured serves a compelling public interest.  Uninsured drivers who have accidents drive up insurance rates for the rest of us.  But the fact of the matter is that people with no health insurance drive up health insurance rates by receiving emergency medical care they can't pay for,
       Of course, one could argue that the analogy doesn't hold because driving is a privilege and not a right.  I still remember that the Delaware state driver's manual of my youth made that point most emphatically.  I have to wonder, therefore, if the people so upset about the new legislation hold health care to be a privilege and not a right.  If so, what sort of comment would that be about America? 
        Also, I  have to wonder just what we've become when the opponents of health care reform engage in ad hominem attacks grounded in race and sexual orientation instead of the issues.  The demagogues and hate mongers have whipped their followers into a frenzy.  I keep hearing Obama and his administration called fascists and Communists both.  (The people mouthing this rhetoric don't seem to understand that these two political philosophies are antithetical.) The irony is that the Tea Baggers and Obama's other populist opponents have more in common with the mobs that helped Hitler to power than Obama and his supporters.  Yet Obama is the one we see caricatured as Hitler.  I humbly submit that either Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh's image would make a better caricature of Mussolini than Oama does of Hitler. 
       It's time for people to get a grip.  --EFP

Antipathy Grounded in Racism

Just today I saw a bumper sticker that lends credence to Jimmy Carter's view of why so many people are down on Obama.
      The text was "Obama/Deceiver"; the image was of Obama in white face.
      This is one of those instances in which the medium is the message.  Taken together, the image and the text suggest that Obama is pretending to be white.  The subtext, moreover, seems to be clear:  The President of the United States is supposed to be white.
      Further, I have to wonder if the people who would display this bumper sticker understand the racist resonance of depicting Obama in white face.  It recalls the black face worn by white comedians in the minstrel shows of old, in which black people were stereotyped as clownish and conniving.
     Personally, I can respect anyone who has reasoned objections to any and all of Obama's policies, but not someone whose antipathy is grounded in racism.
     Jimmie Carter was right.  --EFP

Guns and Butter Revisited

I've been thinking of late about a parallel between President Johnson and President Obama.  I've come to understand that LBJ was a decent man who sincerely wanted his legacy to be a "kinder, gentler America"--a "Great Society."  But he inherited a war he couldn't win, and his political opponents were quick to put him between a rock and a hard place.  If he pulled out of Vietnam, given the Cold-War tenor of the times, he would have been labeled "soft on Communism."  Hence, he tried to wage the war in cold blood.  He dared not try to mobilize or otherwise greatly inconvenience the country.  As the old saying goes, he tried to have guns and butter.  And the more LBJ escalated, the more the left turned against him.  I fear that Obama will find himself between his own rock and hard place.  If he pulls out of Afghanistan, the right will denounce him for failing to keep America safe.  And the more he escalates, the more he will lose the support of the left.  Let's hope that Obama doesn't allow himself to become obsessed with winning an unwinnable war, thereby frittering away his opportunies to do some lasting good for the country.  --EFP