- Feb 12, 2007
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Jonah Goldberg's latest column is one of his funniest ever - and a delight to read.
Long, but enjoyable; but I recommend not drink any beverages unless you are in the mood for a few Angry Dragons.
...In every tale of hubris, the transgressor is eventually slapped across the face with the semi-frozen flounder of reality. The Greeks had a god, Nemesis, whose scythe performed the same function. It was Nemesis who lured Narcissus to the pool where he fell in love with his own reflection. Admittedly, most of Nemesiss walk-on roles were in the Greek tragedies, but in the modern era, comeuppance-for-the-arrogant is more often found in comedies, and the rollout of Healthcare.gov has been downright hilarious. (I put quotation marks around rollout because the term implies actual rolling, and this thing has moved as gracefully as a grand piano in a peat bog.) But, as the president says, its more than a website. Indeed, the whole law is coming apart like a papier-mâché yacht in rough waters. The media feeding frenzy it has triggered from so many journalistic lapdogs has been both so funny and so poignant, it reminds me of nothing more than the climax of the classic film Air Bud, when the lovable basketball-playing golden retriever finally decides to maul the dog-abusing clown.
During the government shutdown, Barack Obama held fast, heroically refusing to give an inch to the hostage-taking, barbaric orcs of the Tea Party who insisted on delaying Obamacare. It was a triumph for the master strategist in the White House, who finally maneuvered the Republicans into revealing their extremism. But we didnt know something back then: Obama desperately needed a delay of Healthcare.gov. In his arrogance, though, he couldnt bring himself to admit it. The other possibility is that he is such an incompetent manager, who has cultivated such a culture of yes-men, that he was completely in the dark about the problems. Thats the reigning storyline right now from the White House. Obama was betrayed. If I had known, he told his staff, we could have delayed the website.
This is how you know were in the political sweet spot: when the only plausible excuses for the administration are equally disastrous indictments....
Obamacare Schadenfreudarama | National Review Online
Long, but enjoyable; but I recommend not drink any beverages unless you are in the mood for a few Angry Dragons.
...In every tale of hubris, the transgressor is eventually slapped across the face with the semi-frozen flounder of reality. The Greeks had a god, Nemesis, whose scythe performed the same function. It was Nemesis who lured Narcissus to the pool where he fell in love with his own reflection. Admittedly, most of Nemesiss walk-on roles were in the Greek tragedies, but in the modern era, comeuppance-for-the-arrogant is more often found in comedies, and the rollout of Healthcare.gov has been downright hilarious. (I put quotation marks around rollout because the term implies actual rolling, and this thing has moved as gracefully as a grand piano in a peat bog.) But, as the president says, its more than a website. Indeed, the whole law is coming apart like a papier-mâché yacht in rough waters. The media feeding frenzy it has triggered from so many journalistic lapdogs has been both so funny and so poignant, it reminds me of nothing more than the climax of the classic film Air Bud, when the lovable basketball-playing golden retriever finally decides to maul the dog-abusing clown.
During the government shutdown, Barack Obama held fast, heroically refusing to give an inch to the hostage-taking, barbaric orcs of the Tea Party who insisted on delaying Obamacare. It was a triumph for the master strategist in the White House, who finally maneuvered the Republicans into revealing their extremism. But we didnt know something back then: Obama desperately needed a delay of Healthcare.gov. In his arrogance, though, he couldnt bring himself to admit it. The other possibility is that he is such an incompetent manager, who has cultivated such a culture of yes-men, that he was completely in the dark about the problems. Thats the reigning storyline right now from the White House. Obama was betrayed. If I had known, he told his staff, we could have delayed the website.
This is how you know were in the political sweet spot: when the only plausible excuses for the administration are equally disastrous indictments....
Obamacare Schadenfreudarama | National Review Online
