From the classic that is the original Star Wars movie (now Star Wars IV) during the attack on the death star:
As one of the rebellion pilots is heading to make the impossible shot that would destroy the death star Empire fighters are attacking from all directions. The pilot loses his concentration as his head is spinning trying to keep track of the frenetic activity around him. The leader of the attack then states his infamous line, “Stay on target! Stay on target!” In the end, he never gets his shot fired and is ultimately destroyed by one of the pursuing Empire fighters.
The month long Congressional recess has been an usually heady time for Conservatives.
First, after explaining to school administrators and the blogging world that we and our children “pledge allegiance to the flag” and not the president, the Obama acolytes resorted to using “in artfully worded” before redoing the “lesson plan” for Obama’s indoctrination speech to school children.
Second, led by Worldnetdaily and Glenn Beck, Conservatives used the method that John McCain was too squeamish for and held Van Jones accountable for his extremist views, statements, actions and associates. The result is that Van Jones has left the Obama administration “to seek other opportunities.” Perhaps the most interesting aspect of both of these events is that neither of them had any of the D.C. Republican leadership leading them. In fact, now now that I think about it, what was the last issue of substance that any of the D.C. Republican leadership?
Finally, Conservatives have successfully led an effort to expose the truth about the Democrat’s attempts to nationalize health care. In town hall meetings, blogs, rallies and one on one discussions, Conservatives came armed with facts that left their opponents either lying or stumbling through things they made up. Regardless of how many times President Obama or Democrat leadership claimed “it wasn’t in there,” the majority of Americans believe it is “in there” and they don’t like it. The situation has degraded so far that President Obama will be addressing a joint session of Congress on Wednesday evening in an attempt put the plan on some new track that could lead to success.
While the first two items clearly sent a message to the Obama administration that he was not elected to a monarchy, the final outcome of the last issue is still to be decided.
Innumerable articles have been written in the past 10 days opining on whether Obama can save the health care reform bill. Amongst other topics, the articles discuss the pros and cons of a 60 vote Senate approval versus a reconciliation process, dropping a public option or moving to a coop and which group of Democrats are more likely to support or jump ship from President Obama. With so many different experts and theories it’s hard to guess what scenario may play out in the coming weeks. In fact, depending upon your own personal preference, if there isn’t an article supporting your theory, just wait another day and there likely will be one written.
Over the next few weeks the fight over health care reform will take many new turns. Some events will likely be complete surprises. We can certainly expect that as President Obama reengages in the fight we’ll see him hang “shiny bright objects”that are meant to distract conservatives from their focus on health care. Whatever transpires, one thing is certain, the fight is far from over. We can’t allow the victories of small skirmishes to lull us into any sense of accomplishment. We must keep pressure on every Congressional representative until health reform that has any increase, or might allow any possible future increase of government intervention is dead, dead, dead.
For the next six weeks or so we need to stay focused, stay aggressive and keep the White House on the defense. Every morning for the next six weeks you should wake up to the admonishment of Gold Five:
