Obamacare's Bitter Pill For Israel
For American taxpayers, the devil is in the details of the new health care law. But for the Jewish people and the State of Israel the devil is in the comparison between Barack Obama's steamrollering of health care legislation and his developing Middle East policy.
The president succeeded in enacting health care reform - something many of his predecessors had attempted but failed. But that's not because those past presidents didn't want universal healthcare or weren't as passionate or concerned about the need for reform. It was just that - for them - the proposals were either unworkable or the cost was simply too high. Or perhaps a mixture of both.
But for Obama, none of that mattered - not that the legislation was viewed by many as deeply flawed, or that there would not be enough doctors to handle the new system, or that it appeared there might not be enough votes to get it through, or that the cost was so high it might bankrupt the country. The data could always be fudged, and the numbers double-counted. And if there weren't enough votes they could use devices like "reconciliation" or "deeming." And to heck with the price - what's a trillion dollars anyway? Not that much more than the stimulus package, and Americans swallowed that one without a murmur.
For Obama, no flaws, no negative data, no voting problems and no financial limitations were allowed to get in the way of delivering his momentous piece of "change." Let the consequences be damned.
In quick succession we see Obama applying the same tactics to the Middle East. American presidents have long tried and failed to find a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Obama means to show up his predecessors once again by forcing through an agreement no matter what the cost or consequences.
It's plain that Israel cannot return to the pre-1967 "Auschwitz borders" or absorb Palestinian refugees without committing national suicide. But that is exactly the plan Obama seeks to impose - and no price is too high to pay for delivering this second stunning achievement where all other U.S. presidents failed.
Fresh from signing Obamacare into law, he wants his Jimmy Carter Moment on the White House lawn. And if America goes bust on health care or Israel is overrun, who cares? It will probably be on the next president's watch anyway.
And so with immigration. This is being widely touted as Obama's next port of call - to confer citizenship on millions of illegal immigrants at a stroke. For the time being, most people are focusing on the further strain such a move would put on America's new health care reality. Looking at it from my British perspective, however, this next Obama coup may be a lot more sinister.
Everyone knows the United Kingdom, like other European states, is rapidly losing its identity as a Christian country. Over the last decade, nearly three million migrants have swamped the country. Last year the Times of London published national statistical data showing that the Muslim population in Britain had grown by more than 500,000 between 2004 and 2008. In fact, the Muslim population multiplied ten times faster than other population groups in British society. And during the same four-year period, the number of Christians in the UK actually fell by more than two million.
This Islamic population explosion arises directly from mass immigration, a higher birthrate among Muslim communities and conversion to Islam. Significantly, Britain's main attraction has been its free health care. Walk through any UK hospital and you will see who is benefiting in numbers vastly disproportionate to their share of the population.
Recently a former adviser to the previous British prime minister, Tony Blair, made the stunning claim that his Labor party's opening of the immigration floodgates in 2000 had been a deliberate strategy of social engineering, for the purpose of turning Britain into a truly multicultural society.
A more cynical view would be that this policy was also intended to change the electoral landscape of the nation. After all, who would these recipients of British visas and welfare be most likely to vote for if not the Labor government hand that feeds them?
Could this be the thinking behind Obama's immigration plan? With the ACORN vote-creation machine almost bankrupt, it is clear he will need to look for other options to win reelection in 2012. Assuming it won't be as easy as "deeming" him reelected, he might need a few million real votes that weren't there before. And how better to get those votes than by following Britain's example? Open the floodgates to the joys of multiculturalism and the ballots of grateful immigrants are sure to follow.
What does this mean for the future of America and its Judeo-Christian ethos? The stunning decline in the UK's Christian population in just four years is truly frightening. It would correspond to a loss of ten million Christians in the U.S.
If America follows the path of "Eurabia," your universities will not be just ideologically leftist but fundamentally Jihadist. Islamist radicalization is rife on our campuses, especially in London. The Christmas "underwear bomber" turned out to be the fourth president of a London student Islamic society to face terrorist charges in three years. One is facing a retrial on charges he was involved in the 2006 liquid bomb plot to blow up multiple airliners. Two others have been convicted of terrorist offenses since 2007.
And what would an opening of U.S. immigration floodgates mean for Jewish interests? If that happens, one thing is certain: Twenty years from now, the notion of three-quarters of Congress coming out in support of Israel will be the stuff of pure fantasy.
So, do Americans want to lose their national identity? Do they want to see the great American dream drown in a sea of health care debt?
No more I suspect than Israelis wish to commit national suicide.
The president succeeded in enacting health care reform - something many of his predecessors had attempted but failed. But that's not because those past presidents didn't want universal healthcare or weren't as passionate or concerned about the need for reform. It was just that - for them - the proposals were either unworkable or the cost was simply too high. Or perhaps a mixture of both.
But for Obama, none of that mattered - not that the legislation was viewed by many as deeply flawed, or that there would not be enough doctors to handle the new system, or that it appeared there might not be enough votes to get it through, or that the cost was so high it might bankrupt the country. The data could always be fudged, and the numbers double-counted. And if there weren't enough votes they could use devices like "reconciliation" or "deeming." And to heck with the price - what's a trillion dollars anyway? Not that much more than the stimulus package, and Americans swallowed that one without a murmur.
For Obama, no flaws, no negative data, no voting problems and no financial limitations were allowed to get in the way of delivering his momentous piece of "change." Let the consequences be damned.
In quick succession we see Obama applying the same tactics to the Middle East. American presidents have long tried and failed to find a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Obama means to show up his predecessors once again by forcing through an agreement no matter what the cost or consequences.
It's plain that Israel cannot return to the pre-1967 "Auschwitz borders" or absorb Palestinian refugees without committing national suicide. But that is exactly the plan Obama seeks to impose - and no price is too high to pay for delivering this second stunning achievement where all other U.S. presidents failed.
Fresh from signing Obamacare into law, he wants his Jimmy Carter Moment on the White House lawn. And if America goes bust on health care or Israel is overrun, who cares? It will probably be on the next president's watch anyway.And so with immigration. This is being widely touted as Obama's next port of call - to confer citizenship on millions of illegal immigrants at a stroke. For the time being, most people are focusing on the further strain such a move would put on America's new health care reality. Looking at it from my British perspective, however, this next Obama coup may be a lot more sinister.
Everyone knows the United Kingdom, like other European states, is rapidly losing its identity as a Christian country. Over the last decade, nearly three million migrants have swamped the country. Last year the Times of London published national statistical data showing that the Muslim population in Britain had grown by more than 500,000 between 2004 and 2008. In fact, the Muslim population multiplied ten times faster than other population groups in British society. And during the same four-year period, the number of Christians in the UK actually fell by more than two million.
This Islamic population explosion arises directly from mass immigration, a higher birthrate among Muslim communities and conversion to Islam. Significantly, Britain's main attraction has been its free health care. Walk through any UK hospital and you will see who is benefiting in numbers vastly disproportionate to their share of the population.
Recently a former adviser to the previous British prime minister, Tony Blair, made the stunning claim that his Labor party's opening of the immigration floodgates in 2000 had been a deliberate strategy of social engineering, for the purpose of turning Britain into a truly multicultural society.
A more cynical view would be that this policy was also intended to change the electoral landscape of the nation. After all, who would these recipients of British visas and welfare be most likely to vote for if not the Labor government hand that feeds them?
Could this be the thinking behind Obama's immigration plan? With the ACORN vote-creation machine almost bankrupt, it is clear he will need to look for other options to win reelection in 2012. Assuming it won't be as easy as "deeming" him reelected, he might need a few million real votes that weren't there before. And how better to get those votes than by following Britain's example? Open the floodgates to the joys of multiculturalism and the ballots of grateful immigrants are sure to follow.
What does this mean for the future of America and its Judeo-Christian ethos? The stunning decline in the UK's Christian population in just four years is truly frightening. It would correspond to a loss of ten million Christians in the U.S.
If America follows the path of "Eurabia," your universities will not be just ideologically leftist but fundamentally Jihadist. Islamist radicalization is rife on our campuses, especially in London. The Christmas "underwear bomber" turned out to be the fourth president of a London student Islamic society to face terrorist charges in three years. One is facing a retrial on charges he was involved in the 2006 liquid bomb plot to blow up multiple airliners. Two others have been convicted of terrorist offenses since 2007.
And what would an opening of U.S. immigration floodgates mean for Jewish interests? If that happens, one thing is certain: Twenty years from now, the notion of three-quarters of Congress coming out in support of Israel will be the stuff of pure fantasy.
So, do Americans want to lose their national identity? Do they want to see the great American dream drown in a sea of health care debt?
No more I suspect than Israelis wish to commit national suicide.
Not even to suit this president.
This article appeared as an Op-Ed in:
.
posted by Zalmi | 11:51 pm
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