There are plenty of reasons that Americans will refer to regarding their majority-led disgust with this particular form of health care reform, including and especially the partisan process that we observed over the past few weeks to get to this point.
Of course, we will hear about will be the Stupak Setback.
However, we will hear about how Rep. Bart Stupak folded in order to follow the lead of his un-Democratic leaders in Washington, but we must not miss the strange and tragic ironies that led a once-respected congressman to fold on his pro-life principles with the weight of history and the obligation to protect Americanism in his hands.
For generations forward, the word “Stupak” will become a political verb to signify being duped into political subservience through misapplication of constitutional understandings as well as empty and illogical promises from untrustworthy sources.
So, with that said: my fellow Americans, we were just Stupaked into accepting this controversial bill into law in two main ways.
First is the strange reliance by Rep. Stupak (D-Mich.) on the Obama executive order to assure him (and his group of Pro-Life Democrats) that federal funds will not be used on abortion. If Mr. Stupak felt that his stance on behalf of the pro-life community needed a strong vote of confidence before he gave his vote to the bill, why did he bank it on the shaky foundation of an executive order that could be overturned or sidestepped by future presidents—or even President Obama—if “the right side of history” prompted the president to do so? Stupak was strong enough to engineer an amendment previously, but was now going to be sidestepped by his Democratic colleagues for “deem and pass” (i.e., “demon pass”) procedure just to skirt the stricter abortion regulations. If Democrats were willing to take this step, why did Stupak believe that an executive order would somehow make the difference instead? For a congressman to believe that the executive order was strong enough to buttress the crossroads of the controversial issues of abortion and health care reform successfully is not believable to someone that has been paying attention to the recent behavior on Capitol Hill. Since 2009, the Democrat-led Congress has ignored the White House’s direction on several directions, including passing pork-filled omnibus and stimulus bills mere months after Mr. Obama became president on a “hope and change” mantra and ignoring bipartisanship on health care reform.
Either Stupak must have either been duping us all with his “stance” for pro-life several months ago with his “Stupak Amendment” or the lame-duck Michigan congressman was truly Stupaked himself into believing that the same drivers of process that have been willing to sidestep the voices of 200 congressman and millions of Americans would not find a way to do the same with a lame presidential executive order from an administration that has been very inconsistent with keeping its word—or forcing Congress to keep it for him—since January 2009. Regardless of whether it was his political brain or spine that failed him, Stupak’s reliance on a flimsy promise of an executive order weakened the bridge connecting the American people to its government.
And that is before you even consider the president that wrote the executive order in this instance.
The full level of “Stupakification” comes when considering that it was President Obama who offered the executive order that became the convincing move for Stupak and others to join the Democrats. Mr. Obama—I remind you—is the same man with a questionable history on partial-birth abortions and is the man that used his executive order as president to reinitiate a controversial initiative that sends money to foreign countries for abortion-related services. This move contravened the previous American policy for the past decade and, further, sent millions of dollars outside of the United States at a time when the nation was in the midst of severe financial crisis—a time when plenty of American children could have benefited from the funds. And, of course, this comes from the proverbial head of the political party that has advocated for the continued federal funding of Planned Parenthood—an organization historically linked to promoting abortion for eugenic-based and other less-than-honorable reasons. Recent signs of this level of devotion include the Democrats’ shooting down of a 2009 move by Congressman Steve Pence (R-Ind.) to terminate any further federal funding to the organization. With this information of President Obama’s political leanings on the issue of abortion, his legislative record on the abortion matters, and the history of the Democratic Party over recent decades concerning abortion-on-demand, did Congressman Stupak really ignore the historical facts through an inexcusable lack of vision—or was he merely Stupaked with the presidential wool pulled over his eyes?
Through failure to keep his convictions, failure to have vision past the immediate vote, or failure to understand the political maneuvering around him, the congressman from Michigan made sure that the majority of Americans and many of his colleagues in the House of Representatives—those that have repeatedly voiced a desire for health care reform outside of government mandates, government takeovers, and government procedural tricks—were Stupaked into a new era in America. If the Republicans are not able to rally the troops enough in November and Obamacare fails in any fashion, the name Bart Stupak—and his namesake verb—will grow in infamy for all of the wrong reasons.
Lenny McAllister is a syndicated political commentator, popular public speaker, and the author of the book, “Diary of a Mad Black PYC (Proud Young Conservative,)” purchased online at www.tinyurl.com/lennysdiary and www.amazon.com. Follow him at www.twitter.com/lennyhhr and on Facebook at www.tinyurl.com/lennyfacebook .