"No he is not a real doctor, nor does he play one on TV..."
John was headed off to see the doctor. He had not been for a while, and he had some things going on that were of a concern. He noticed he had blood in his stools, a sharp pain in his lower gut, he had been losing weight without trying, and his color was not good. He arrived at Dr. Feelgood's office feeling very apprehensive. When the doctor came in, he looked at John, smiled, and told him he was fine. "But doctor, what about my symptoms? Are they normal?" The doctor looked at him and once again smiled. "John, you needed to lose some weight anyhow. As for the other things, not to worry. Come back in twelve weeks for a recheck. However, I can tell you in advance, you will probably hear the same thing."
The October 2013 government shut down is over, and both sides are back in their corners. The true believers on the right feel they have once again been "jobbed". People who live in the Matrix are just relieved we can go back to living in La-La Land. The problem is this - just like with John, the patient is still very sick. Our doctor in Washington once again told us we were fine, and it was time to get back to work - back to work in the Matrix.
So where do we go from here? Just give up? Let the drugs take effect? As Steve Austin would say, "That is a big HELL NO!". We learn from what just happened. We have twelve weeks until the next hill, and this time we need to be smarter and faster than last time. Here are some ideas:
- Tell the real story on our debt and tell it over and over and over again. To many people, our national debt is an abstraction. It is not. It is real and has real consequences. Be honest - both sides have been guilty of running this thing up. However, it is time for ALL to band together and fix it. The message needs to be crisp and clear, with articulate truth tellers delivering it.
- We need to have our National Debt Clock be viable and accurate. Get it fixed, and fixed fast. The fact it did not move for over a hundred days is simply fraudulent. We need to find out who the culprit was and expose him (or her) for all to see. The National Debt Clock is our national thermometer.
- Now that the ACA is over two weeks old, what have we learned? As predicted, IT IS NOT WORKING! Less than 1% of all who made it though the maze of the government portal have signed up. Even Obama buddy Robert Gibbs has been very vocal on how screwed up this launch was. In addition, many people are getting sticker shock beyond belief when they see the new rates. Not enough young people are signing up. All these things together put the ACA on very shaky ground. GET THE FACTS OUT BEFORE THE NEXT BUDGET DEADLINE! Tell the story. IT IS DYING UNDER ITS OWN WEIGHT - LET IT FALL. The ACA itself needs to be the story, not the Republicans trying to defund it or delay it. This thing is low fruit on the tree, just waiting to be picked off. The American people will very soon get the picture the car they just bought is a bright yellow lemon.
- HAVE A PLAN! Before the next debt ceiling in twelve weeks, show a viable plan with a way out. EVERYONE, and I mean everyone is sick to death of lurching from crisis to crisis. Stop being either Dr. No or Dr. Feelgood. Be the doctor that can heal. Have a plan, make it simple for all to understand, AND HAVE MESSENGERS WHO CAN EXPLAIN IT.
- NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING else gets done in the next twelve weeks. No immigration reform, NOTHING! I don't want to hear this crapola that "we can walk and chew gum." No Mr. President , you can't.
- After this debacle, the GOP has no other trajectory than up. We must not shoot our wounded nor eat our young. We need to fix our message and messaging. Be the party of truth and solutions. The other party is showing itself to be just the opposite.
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