There is an oft repeated quote that such great football coaches as Darryl Royal, Bear Bryant, Vince Lombardi, and Tom Landry have employed to admonish their players not to make fools of themselves after scoring a touchdown,
“When you get in the end zone, act like you’ve been there before.”
It’s advice generally ignored by today’s football players, and by today’s politicians as well.
On Thursday President Obama returned to the podium to once again spike the football regarding the “success” of Obamacare. Yes, he had already done that a couple of weeks ago, but apparently the numbers are even better than he had first reported. I’d say that’s a little like a football player returning to the end zone after seeing a touchdown replay to reprise his stupid chicken celebration dance because he was even more impressed with himself upon watching it on replay.
Barry Sanders, one of the greatest running backs to have ever played the game, spent as much time in the end zone as any other player. His touchdown “celebration” consisted of calmly tossing the football to the referee and returning to the bench to prepare for the rest of the game. He understood that a touchdown was not a win, and was certainly not a championship. The truly great in any field experience sufficient success that they no longer impress themselves with a single accomplishment. Like Sanders, their calm and unsurprised reaction indicates that they have been in the end zone before, and that they fully expect to be back again.
Alright, enough football, this isn’t a sports blog. It was slightly surprising to see President Obama revisiting the Obamacare issue so soon, especially after belatedly throwing Secretary Sebelius under the bus just a few days ago. For those of you inclined to fairy tales I guess the way to justify her resignation with such overwhelming success is that she wanted to quit while she was on top. Yeah, okay.
Presidents don’t give press conferences on a whim, and Ms. Sebelius’s resignation was not random. The orchestration of the events since the end of March is clear, and the strategy is becoming apparent. Democrats are in trouble over the issue of Obamacare because, a; except for the few outliers that the law has actually helped, the public doesn’t like it, and b; on a whole, it doesn’t seem to make anything better. Medicine can taste bad, but if it actually seems to cure you, one might be willing to choke it down. President Obama is in the process of trying to convince us all that the bad tasting medicine is working. He is in campaign mode, and lest we forget, when he is on the campaign trail truth is sometimes asked to take a backseat, or ride in the trunk, or just stay behind altogether. The idea is to use unverified numbers to exalt the miraculous come from behind victory of the ACA. “Figures don’t lie, but liars figure.” There’s so many ways to “do the math”, that the dishonest can always find a method to explain a defeat as actually a victory. He is blinding us with science, and the science is settled. The debate is over, the win is in the books. Spike the football; and then spike it again. Spike it until people believe you won.
Trust is one of the easiest things to obtain from people, but more difficult to regain once lost. We expect people to be generally honest with us, we live our lives mostly taking people at their words, because the alternative would be unlivable. We reserve distrust for those who have shown themselves to be untrustworthy, and of course used car salesmen. President Obama is being like the philandering husband who counts his wife’s trust as stupidity. He believes he can always put one over on her. But trust is not as permanent a condition as stupidity, and once your eyes are opened, the deception no longer plays. Likewise, the President uses the offending partner’s vernacular, “Let’s move on… It’s in the past…. Let’s not fight….” All lines that have worked for him in the past, all lines that depend on gullibility and stupidity, but won’t fly in the light of intelligent skepticism.
IMHO: Ridiculous celebrations are no longer restricted to the end zone, and players now crow over first downs and five yard pass completions. Taunting has become an ugly part of our culture, and has apparently found its way into the White House. I am reminded of the old proverb, “One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off.” Despite the President’s wishful insistence, the battle is far from over, the debate on this has only begun, and elections are the time to celebrate. The data can be bent and spun to conjure victory from defeat, but when you’ve lost trust, contorted statistics won’t restore it, or silence the truth. I started with a football quote, I guess I’ll end with another from Coach Royal:
“You don’t have to explain victory, and you can’t explain defeat.”
