Boston Harbor 2009

On December 7, 1941, upon receiving word from his fleet commander in the Pacific, that they had successfully attacked the U.S. base at Pearl Harbor, Japanese Naval Marshal General Isoroku Yamamoto turned to his commanders and said, "I am afraid we have woken a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve."

If you believe, if we do not learn from history we are doomed to repeat it, President Obama has done just that. He has woken a sleeping giant with a terrible resolve. Only this time it is not a foreign enemy we are fighting it is our own government.

He has not attacked us with planes and bombs; he has attacked us with rhetoric and sound bites that have attacked our sensibility. However, he is fighting with his head in the sand. When he stood in front of the press and explained that my "pediatrician would rather take out my child's tonsils than treat the symptoms with pain killers and antibiotics because he gets paid more from the insurance company," I went into my usual rant at the one-eyed digital monster that I keep screaming at which never answers me.

"You idiot," I screamed. "You really expect the American people who have half a brain to believe that idiom?" My pediatrician will send me to an ENT surgeon to remove them and cure my child. He will never see him again for tonsillitis. So he is taking money out of his pocket, not lining it with medical insurance checks.

What about the economic effect of mom or dad staying home with a sick child and missing time from work. No income, no taxes no money to pay for the new health care bill.

If that wasn't bad enough he then told us at a staged town hall meeting, "If you have diabetes and need your foot amputated the surgeon collects $30,000 to $50,000 from Medicare for the surgery."

"In fact, Medicare pays a surgeon between $740 and $1,140 for a leg amputation," said the American College of Surgeons (ACS), which is care that includes evaluation of the patient the day of the operation and follow-up care that is provided for 90 days after the operation. Private insurers pay a variation of the same amount, said the group, adding that it is "deeply disturbed" over the President's "uninformed public comments."

Then the President told us "health care costs in the U.S. are almost twice what they are in the UK and Canada." Here is a quick economic lesson for you Mr. President. It is twice as expensive because we get twice as much care. Consumer education 101, "You get what you pay for."

Canadian doctors have a new medical referral program in Canada. They refer their patients to the U.S. for care that they cannot get at home.

It was Benjamin Franklin who said, "A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over."

So how stupid do you think we are Mr. President. The American people see right through your arrogance.

You told us the "Cash for Clunkers" program would cost $4,500 a vehicle. So what has it done? It has accomplished the same thing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were able to do. Only this time instead of homes they cannot afford, poor people are purchasing expensive vehicles they will not be able to afford.

Let us not forget the used car dealers and auto mechanics that will go out of business. Oh! By the way Mr. President that $4,500 per vehicle is more than $7,000 when you factor in the cost of the new government agency you set up to administer it.

Obama is to be congratulated. He is the first President who has revealed the ability to get the American people, no matter what their party affiliation out of their chairs. He is not the new FDR; he is the new Paddy Chayefsky who got Howard Beale out of his chair in the movie "Network." (Those of you who are too young, my suggestion is you rent the DVD and watch it carefully).

The American public is starting to believe he has no idea what he is doing. The polls are showing the results of that statement. It is just one failed policy after another. He continues to act with enthusiasm and a smile on his face.

Winston Churchill said, "Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm."

Congress is being led by a mad woman from San Francisco; that's mad with capital M and two D's. I don't care what party she is from, she is running Congress by the 11th commandment. "When it comes to her congressional agenda the first ten don't apply."

F. Lee Bailey once asked, "Do you believe the Bill of Rights could get through Congress today? It wouldn't even get out of committee."

Let me explain this in simpler terms. It's called Robin Hood economics. When you rob Peter to pay Paul, Paul will side with you every time. You can't sit home watching your 60" TV, wearing your Gucci loafers, sipping your $50 dollar wine, driving your new BMW and tell me you can't afford health insurance. Start taking responsibility for yourself. Stop waiting for the government to bail you out.

Helen Keller said, "The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision."

When I think of where our President and his Chief of Staff originated from and how they are products of the powerful Chicago political machine. I can only wonder if Mrs. O'Leary's cow was trying to tell us something.

As for the Tea Parties and Town Hall meeting attendees; Dr. Margaret Mead, the great anthropologist, said, "Never doubt the power of a small group of people to change the world. That is about the only way it has ever happened in the past."

I quoted Ghandi in my last Op-Ed, it bears repeating here.

Take heed town hall attendees "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." -Ghandi

As for a history lesson Mr. President you should have studied Gandhi not Saul Alinsky.

And, that is my opinion.

Michael Solomon

Author of "Where Did My America Go?"

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