Fight Nice

Remembering my childhood I often recall how my mother and aunts would assuage  one of the kids who came running to them crying because of some infraction perpetrated on them by one of the other kids. They would always dispense the same facetious piece of advice. “Fight nice.” This age-old sage advice would best be practiced by our less than sage plutocrats in Washington: Obama, Boehner, Reid and Pelosi, et al, as they continue to point fingers  of blame at each other for the government shutdown.

Both sides have genuine sympathy for folks being adversely affected. Somehow, the Republicans, though, always seem to get the short end of the stick in the PR War when something goes awry in the country. I guess the Obama administration has the media to thank for that and especially for  all the positive spin it got in getting the Affordable Care Act (ACA) passed. But now the theory must become reality.

The Democrats remain adamant that they will not change a law that has been passed, though it passed without a single Republican vote. You would think they might have been just a tad more sympathetic to the other side of the aisle and sought their input. This was their flaw.

When the Clinton administration tried to pass healthcare legislation, one of the most intelligent gentlemen to  ever grace the senate floor, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, noted that significant legislation is passed in a bi-partisan manner or they fail.

After three plus years the law is still unintelligible to all but a few policy wonks, who when they explain it, make it seem even more convoluted. When the exchanges opened for people to shop for coverage on October 1, there were snafus of biblical proportions. Apparently the program is not ready for prime time. Will it ever be? Harry “Three Tongue” Reid had the nerve to say that these types of glitches also plagued Google at various points. The difference  is that Google can get rid of those responsible for inefficiency whereas the government will only add more bureaucratic blubber to try and fix it.

Why does the law grant waivers to the president’s staunchest supporters and Congress. If it’s good for the rest of us why not them?

I’m sure a compromise on the impasse can be reached. But the president will have to think about leveling the playing field if he wants the Republicans to go along with his budget recommendations. Until then, fight nice.