Normandy, NOT Waterloo!

By: Jim Moss

Several months ago, as the fight over health insurance reform began to heat up, Republican Senator, Jim DeMint of  South Carolina, prophesied that health care reform would prove to be “Obama’s Waterloo”.  DeMint’s confident declaration set the stage for a high-profile showdown between Democrats and Republicans — between President Obama and the Republican Party Leadership who vowed to defeat, obstruct, kill — any legislative proposal endorsed by President Obama.

This ‘Waterloo — Line In The Sand’ served to fire up folks across America, resulting in the raucous, uncivil town hall meetings (spectacles) during the Congressional Summer Recess.  DeMint’s provocative prediction (coupled with $$ millions of corporate lobbyist dollars) facilitated a political dog fight that ultimately would require a Winner and a Loser.  The South Carolina Senator  apparently believed that if his Party could stop health care reform legislation — such a decisive victory would damage Obama’s prestige, derail the Obama Agenda, and thus destroy Obama’s Presidency.

‘Obama’s Waterloo’ — this hard-line partisan strategy — high-jacked any opportunity for a bi-partisan, Win-Win outcome.

Former speech writer for President George W. Bush, David Frum, offered an insightful analysis of the ‘Waterloo Strategy’ during an interview Sunday, March 21, on MSNBC.  Frum credits the ‘Waterloo Strategy’ to a handful of extreme political leaders and media personalities who call themselves ‘conservatives’, and are hell-bent on destroying Obama’s Presidency.  Frum acknowledged that many provisions within the Democrat’s Health Care Reform Bill have been supported by Republicans for decades.  Frum suggested that Republican Leaders could have decided early in this debate to find common ground, pursue a Win-Win result, and work with President Obama and their Democrat colleagues.  Instead, the Limbaugh/Beck/Fox noise megaphone led the charge against a bipartisan approach — and opted for a Napoleonic showdown with Obama.

The ‘Waterloo Strategy’ succeeded in creating a political atmosphere that most citizens find repulsive.  The battle has been sullied with lies, deception, fear-mongering, and hypocracy.  And, most important — the ‘Waterloo Strategy’ has FAILED.

Obama’s Agenda, his prestige, and his Presidency will benefit immensely in the wake of signing into law, historic health care reform.  The victory could have been shared.  By now, most Americans realize that President Obama made repeated, good-faith efforts to reach out for a bipartisan victory.

Rather than ‘meeting his Waterloo’ — Obama’s victory will boost his political capital, and will empower the President to charge forward boldly, to tackle the big issues of our day —

Sort of like ‘storming the beaches of Normandy’ to secure an even bigger victory for America!

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