ABC News reports that at his Sunday rally for Massachusetts Democrat and Senate candidate Martha Coakley, President Obama attempted to classify Republicans in general, and Coakley’s opponent Scott Brown in particular, as “protectors of the big banks, [] protectors of the big insurance companies, [and] protectors of the big drug companies.”
In playing this card, President Obama is attempting to paint himself and his fellow Democrats as insurgents against entrenched interests. Unfortunately for Obama, this approach is not only dishonest, it is also downright laughable.
It is Obama and his Wall Street wunderkind, Timothy Geithner, who have gone to great lengths to protect the big banks. It is Obama and his friends in Congress that are attempting to shove a health insurance reform bill down the throats of the American people that will force millions of Americans to purchase products that will generate an enormous windfall for insurance companies. And it is Obama and his allies who have struck a deal with those same drug companies for their support of health care legislation in exchange for taxpayer-funded subsidies and extensive monopolies.
And when it comes to Massachusetts, does the President actually expect people to believe that, in a State that hasn’t elected a Republican to the United States Senate in more than 30 years and whose legislature has 21 Republicans out of its 200 members, that it is the Democrats who are fighting against entrenched government interests? Puh-leaze!
No matter what happens in Massachusetts tomorrow, this much should be clear. Voters all across America are tired of the status quo in Washington, and they want candidates for office who will fight for them. If Republicans can remember that and wage the types of campaigns we have seen run by Bob McDonnell and Scott Brown, then 2010 could be a banner year for the GOP. However, if Republican candidates start to have more faith in themselves than in the causes of fiscal responsibility, government accountability and national security, they could easily squander an historic opportunity.
