The Pequod Party

I have no idea whether the Obama care will pass, but either way I am sure that it will not stand. Of course, if it goes down to defeat, it will be dead, and the political costs of pushing it will be so great that no rational politician will attempt it again for quite some time.

If it passes, that will not be the end of the process as many Democrats hope. Rather, it will be the beginning of an even larger conflict; a conflict that will last at a minimum well into 2013. If it passes, the bill will have been passed against the clear will of the majority of the public and by means that are at best highly questionable, and probably flat out unconstitutional.  Regardless of what any court will rule in the numerous lawsuits that are already being planned, the process will be seen by most people as a subverting of the democratic system of government in order to get around the will of the people.

At the end of the movie Tora, Tora, Tora, dealing with the successful attack on Pearl Harbor, Yamamoto, the Japanese admiral says, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”  While it is doubtful that Yamamoto actually said those words, they accurately describe the American people’s reaction to the attack.

 What Obama’s Ahab-like obsession in pursuit of health care has done is to once again awakened the American people and the passage of the bill will likewise fill them with a terrible resolve.  I do not pretend to know how that resolve will manifest itself, but it will manifest itself. It is for this reason that I am sure that when all is said and done, Obama-care will not survive. This is still a government of, by and for the people, and the people will not be ignored. The only question that remains is while Obama may be obsessed like Ahab, will the Democratic Party become the Pequod Party?