Day: January 8, 2010

President Obama made repeated promises during the campaign about more transparency in government, including specifying that health care debates would be televised on C-Span. But now the Senate wants to have the final discussion behind closed doors, and for the sake of expediency, Obama is not opposing that. Of course, if he DID oppose it, then that opposition alone would probably result in weeks of arguments with Nancy Pelosi et al, which Obama might or might not win, and either way it guarantees that he won’t have a bill to sign by the State of the Union. So Obama renegs on the campaign promise and a field day ensues. Not only is he hearing it from the Usual Suspects, but even his most stalwart defenders are hard-pressed to find an upside to such a blatant disregard for his repeatedly given word.

Basically Obama has just gone all-in on this particular hand. If the result of this gambit is a health care reform bill that improves the life of American people overall, then this is going to be a blip on the radar and nothing more. If someone’s child can receive proper medical care without the family facing bankruptcy in 2011, they won’t give care a crap that C-Span was shut out in 2010. It puts Obama in a position of being able to say during his reelection run, “I regret that I had to go back on my promise, but the result was needed health care reform.” But if this thing falls apart and Obama has nothing to show for it, then this becomes his “Read my lips: No new taxes,” the oft-repeated broken pledge that helped to sink George H.W. Bush’s bid for a second term.

PAD

With the incessant snow and the global-warming-defying cold snap across the country, it seems a good time for thoughts to turn to spring and baseball in as positive and uplifting a manner as only a Mets fan can summon.

So: Jason Bay. Just signed with the Mets. Thirty one years old. $66 million over four years. Three-time All Star. Right-handed pull hitter with thirty-plus home runs. Wants to try and make 2009 nothing more than a distant, bad memory.

Here’s the question: How long will it be until Bay winds up on the DL?

My instinct is that he’ll blow out a tricep waving to the crowd on opening day, but I’ll be generous and give him until May 15. I figure a blown hamstring from slipping on a banana peel dropped on the dugout steps. Kathleen gives him until Flag Day when one of the jets that typically does a flyover the field on that day has a piece break off and falls on him.

PAD