Fair and Open? Talk about Faux News...

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Funny - when people usually talk about "Faux News", it's a satirical take on the slanted viewpoint of the conservative-tilted network, Fox News. The criticism - often well deserved - comes from left-leaning followers of politics that find themselves reviling the opinions and stories that come from Fox News. To them, Fox News provides too much propaganda and not enough openness with all sides of the issues.

In light of the recent developments coming from the Obama Administration and the supermajority leadership in Washington, perhaps that moniker is best worn by those propagating falsehoods concerning the "open and fair debate" in Washington concerning health care reform that was supposed to epitomize the new era ushered in last January.

Just last week, word came from Capitol Hill that the president and congressional leaders would not invite top Republicans into private negotiations over the compromises that will shape the rest of the health care legislation proposed for passage early this year. Of course, this is a huge contrast to the "C-SPAN open" debates on health care that President Obama mentioned in earlier times. Perhaps it was the blowback that came at the town hall forums across the country during last summer or perhaps it is the fallout from repeated Republican pushback on Democrat-led bills since the beginning of last year. Whatever the case may be, this stands clear: that after successfully convincing Americans that government would be fairer and more open under Democrat-driven rule post-2008, the Democrats have consistently and repeatedly shut out a significant portion of American ideas and proposals simply based on political affiliations regardless of whether or not the solutions could improve America.

The lack of openness is more detrimental than just the broken promise of healing the heated partisan divide that America suffered in the media and beyond over the past decade or so. It goes back to reminding us of a painful reality that has yet to be addressed properly in Washington - namely, that both major political parties are full of leaders and support systems that are more interested in the power-grab that comes with winning elections than they are with service to the people and focus on the solutions needed for the nation, even if that means coming up with appropriate compromises with viable ideas from rival American leaders.

After all - it is still one big nation, working together for common goals, right?

And that is what has preached by the Obama Team in 2008 but has been constantly overlooked since Barack Obama became president #44. The inability (and, now, apparent unwillingness) of the new administration to harken to this sentiment during such a critical time in American history only reeks of more political deception and pandering than it resembles any sort of true leadership. Through the first quarter of this presidency, there has not been enough chance-taking outside of the party structure set for #44, a clear break from the gameplan set by Candidate Obama that now has led to unpopular and unsuccessful spending programs from Washington that has had minimal impact on turning around the economy, unfreezing the credit market, and putting more Americans back to work. This direction - if appplied to the health care reform initiative - will only have similar results in 2010 to what we have seen in 2009: one-party-driven legislation that ratchets up America's debt while hampering the recovery for Americans across the land.