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Branch Interference « Dangerous Dan
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Dangerous Dan Thoughts and musings on the world

3/11/2010

Branch Interference

Filed under: General — Dangerous Dan @ 12:00 pm

Obama does like to play Chicago-style politics.  Politics itself is a rough business, but the O has taken it to a weird public degree that does not respect the separation of the branches.  Recall how he chastised the Supreme Court during his State of the Union address.  He appears to be up to something similar again.

Somehow or another during the 2008 election, I got on the e-mail list for Organizing for America, Obama’s permanent campaign group, which uses barackobama.com.  Well, since it’s a permanent campaign, I still get e-mails from them.  The current batch is a multi-day plan of action for OFA faithful to try to help get the Democrats’ health care reform passed. 

So starting today, we’re launching an unprecedented week-long campaign sprint — our “Final March for Reform.” Each day until the vote, we’ll feature a powerful new way for OFA supporters to speak out in our communities and weigh in directly with Congress.

Day 1 was to “get the facts out.” 

Today, we’ll start by spreading the facts about reform in our communities. Smears and falsehoods have clouded this debate — Congress must understand that if they pass reform, their constituents will know the truth about what we’ve finally achieved.

I’m assuming they mean to distribute what they consider facts.  After looking at them, though, I think a more appropriate interpretation would be to get the facts out of the debate, i.e. remove them.  The first “fact” is, “If you have health insurance through your employer and you like your plan, you can keep it.”  Frankly, I’m surprised they’re still using this canard.  If I have health insurance through my employer, it’s not my decision on whether I keep my plan.  It’s my employer’s.

Anyway, the disturbing part is day 2’s call to action:

President Obama has called for the House to vote to move health reform forward as early as next week. Your representative, Rep. Mark Kirk [for some reason, they think I live in Illinois -DD], voted last fall to allow insurance companies to continue to jack up rates, drop coverage when folks need it the most, and discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions.

Now, we’re in the final march for reform and there’s one last chance to do the right thing. Please call Rep. Kirk today and let them know there is a political price to favoring big insurance companies over the American people — OFA supporters in Illinois have pledged 400,168 volunteer hours to fight for candidates who support reform.

My guess is these were sent out to OFA subscribers and customized per district.  I don’t know what the ones say for people who live in districts whose representatives did vote for Obamacare.  The troubling part here is that the President’s campaign arm is blatantly threatening representatives and encouraging its minions to do the same.  That seems at best improper.  Trying to convince people is one thing.  Advising people to contact their representatives if they want the rep to vote a particular way is ok too.  But to throw this kind of threat out there publicly is not respecting the separation of the branches, is unseemly, and makes Obama come off as a thug.

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