Looking for some leadership

“New Rule: Just because a country elects a smart president doesn't make it a smart country. A few weeks ago I was asked by Wolf Blitzer if I thought Sarah Palin could get elected president, and I said I hope not, but I wouldn't put anything past this stupid country.”

- Bill Maher

Blogosphere Right is in full throat over the op-ed piece today by Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer in which they call the disruptions of the townhall meetings “un-American” or more precisely, “Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American”. We think our side is guilty of some broad-brushing as in reading the article, they did not expressly say that the protesters themselves were being un-American which brings us to the larger point of what Pelosi/Hoyer did say.

Now, whether or not this disruptive behavior is “un-American” is unclear to us but it is entirely beside the point. The sin Pelosi and Hoyer committed is symptomatic of what we have seen and heard recently from our nationally elected leaders and it is an ability to turn completely tone-deaf when trying to communicate the simplest of principles.

Rather than saying the arrest of Prof. Gates by Sgt. Crowder was being dealt with at the local level and there were not enough facts available to make a judgement call either way, the President barged head-long into a two-week controversy by saying the police acted “stupidly”. That was simply a ridiculous statement for a President to make.

And if Pelosi and Hoyer had said the disruptions were “not constructive”, “rude”, “uncivil”, then everything would’ve been peachy. But, no. These two idiots, with pen in hand and not being asked about it off-the-cuff at a presser, play the “un-American” card and thus alienate further a large section of the population who, even if they hadn’t attended a townhall protest, sympathise with the concerns of those who did.

Honestly, what are these people thinking?

B-Daddy and I were talking over the weekend about how discouraging the discourse regarding the healthcare debate has become. Not at the townhalls but at the national level. Instead of calling for civility and calm in light of these increasingly contentious townhall meetings where union thugs think nothing of kicking the crap out of someone because he was handing out “Don’t tread on me” stickers, our national leaders fan the flames of violence by likening the protesters to Nazis and calling their actions “un-American”. It pisses off one side and grants license to the other by legitimizing in their minds, violence upon others. See… were beating up Nazis.

And when the President has the opportunity to establish the baseline for discourse, what does he do? He tells people to get out of his way and sets up a snitch site.

More than anything else, though, this complete inability to communicate on a rational level with the American public is informed by the condescension contained in that quote by Bill Maher above.

We know who we are and we know who you are and you are simply not smart enough, America to be trusted on your own with anything as important as health care.