While the President of the United States suspended his national tour for a publicity stunt Thursday, Congressional committees continued considerations of costly health care proposals. For the moment, it seems that four so-called “moderates” on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are set to approve of Henry Waxman’s latest state empowerment scheme that few have actually read. Rather more competent if imperfect individuals on the Finance Committee of the U.S. Senate continue to focus on crafting a less statist but still costly alternative health reform proposal.

Earlier in the week, talks commenced between officials of the U.S. and (mainland) Chinese governments wherein topics pertaining to the growing U.S. debt, and the share of it owed to Beijing were discussed. No one should be surprised that the U.S. Treasury is having trouble selling its debt with the spending record of the current administration. Among those involved were tax cheat and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, as well as Secretary if State Hillary Clinton. These talks followed on the heels of a minor diplomatic spat with Russia over yet another set of remarks by Vice President Biden.

Thus, the empty promises of hope and change have now gone away. In their place have arisen the interminable politics of fearmongering and mischaracterization that Obama and company were supposedly against. The audacity of these dopes is alarming, but so too is that of those dopes in the press and public who still refuse to call the party in power in Washington on its folly.

Few are asking why Speaker Pelosi and President Obama have described the private insurance industry in highly unflattering terms if their “public option” is not meant to undermine and eventually replace private insurnce. Few are asking why any of the various health care reform proposals being considered in Congress will not experience higher costs than what is projected when so many other federal programs have cost more than initially claimed. Few have asked why the champion of change and a postracial America made the comment he did on July 22 that prompted his impromptu summit the Thursday of the week that followed.

While true that the prospects for a GOP resurgence in 2010 and beyond exist, problems remain. If the GOP caters to the repeatedly discredited Birthers, best compared to the John Birch Society rightly rejected by conservative and Republican leaders in the 1950′s, then there will not be a resurgence. Thus, Republicans must check the audacity of their own dopes if they wish for their hopes to bear fruit. More importantly, if Republicans fail to produce ideas and elucidate real policy differences from the Democrats, the possibility of resurgence this year or next will have been only theoretical.

Last 5 posts by James Kane

• A November to Remember - November 8th, 2010
• On hope and fear - October 18th, 2010
• Expecting Different Results - September 12th, 2010
• A glaring omission on Iraq - August 31st, 2010
• Employing a losing strategy - August 7th, 2010