So, a funny thing happened on the way to appraising President Obama’s health reform address to Congress last night. With my wife away on a business trip, I was home alone with our 4-year-old, cagily keeping her busy watching Disney’s "Earth" (stunning), while I shuttled back and forth to another TV to watch what I could of the President’s speech.
So I’m cheering, literally, as I hear Obama make the case for the public option plan, cheering and clapping enough to pique little Aliza’s curiosity in the next room. I run in there and explain that I was cheering for Barack Obama -- she knows him by sight and name, and she’s a big fan. After answering a few questions, including, I kid you not, "What’s John McCain saying?" (There’s back-story there that will just have to wait), she turned back to her movie, happily watching as a leopard was taking down a caribou in the wild. I smiled and hurried back to the speech.
By the way, I took some pleasure in answering Aliza’s McCain question honestly enough, saying "He didn’t say anything, he just gave Obama a thumbs-up" -- which she laughed heartily at, adding "That’s crazy!" before turning her attention back to the harsh realities of Survival Of The Fittest.
As I planted myself back in front of the other TV, it dawned on me that Aliza and I were actually watching different versions of the same basic show, variations on the whole Darwinian theme, if you will.
That thought kept percolating as I watched a little more of the President’s inspirational speechifying, before realizing that the movie playing in the next room was over, and that my darling daughter was about to attack me from the rear, and I do mean rear, with a rather large stuffed giraffe. So I bit the parental bullet, started recording the rest of the speech, and went through the whole bath (shower, actually, in our house) and bedtime routine in high spirits, feeling like the President had -- to use the words I used in leaving a message for my poor wife who was stuck on a plane -- "hit a home run" with the speech.
Hearing an American President sound, for the most part, like a genuine, proud, tough, smart, pragmatic, compassionate Liberal, finally saying what had to be said about our national health care crisis -- wow. I had a few of those goose-bump moments listening to Bill Clinton at his very best back in the ‘90’s, but this was different. Better.
And then, after singing "Goodnight Irene" six or seven times in a row and putting Aliza out cold, I rushed back for the "post-game" coverage. And immediately heard a very important part of the speech that I’d missed while on one of my shuttle trips -- the part that some Progressives may feel is a bit, or more than a bit, of a slap in the face:
"It's worth noting that a strong majority of Americans still favor a public insurance option of the sort I've proposed tonight. But its impact shouldn't be exaggerated."
And then a moment later:
"The public option is only a means to that end ("make coverage affordable for those without it") -- and we should remain open to other ideas that accomplish our ultimate goal."
Hmmm. Not exactly what I wanted to hear in the way of Obama’s unwavering support for and commitment to creating a Public Health Plan building on the Medicare model as part of any reform bill.
But you know what? He has taken the same basic tack on the public option for a while now, and there really was no good reason to expect that he would suddenly insist that it was non-negotiable.
So while a little of my euphoric glow faded, I still decided, baseball fan that I am, to stick with the original home run call -- except, I’d change it to an inside-the-park home run. For no, although he was so effectively swinging for the fences with this amazing speech, his choice of words on the public option, his continuing inside-the-beltway appeal for bi-partisanship, kept the President from hitting this one right out of the park.
Now, I’m still thinking this through, but maybe, in the short run, he’s right to have relied on his speed and agility, as much as if not more than his sheer strength and power...which brings us back to the Survival Of The Fittest.
I do believe -- even though the openness to compromise on the public option does not jibe with my beliefs, preferences or understanding of what would best begin to solve this crisis -- that President Barack Obama is one lean, but not mean, strategic fighting machine -- or, in baseball parlance, a thinking man’s slugger.
Some may still question his willingness to "have at it" and come out swinging against tough opposition and dirty tactics -- although last night’s speech should’ve eased concerns about that to some degree. But none should question his fitness for this fight, on any level. He will go the distance.
I almost woke up Aliza to tell her -- This is one fit leopard of a President we have in Barack Obama. And all those Republic, Reactionary, Conservative caribou better be on the lookout.