Morning Fog

An ACA By Any Other Name Still Smells Like Progress

We're told that we may get further information regarding what the Republican replacement for the Affordable Care Act may contain. I'm sure we'll be seeing plenty of views as to what's good about it, and what's not, but taking the long view, I think one thing is certain:

The real accomplishment of the Obama administration and the ACA that it legislated is not so much specific provisions, though of course it's good for all of us if more citizens obtain health insurance, and provisions like those involving pre-existing conditions and others are naturally very popular.

For me, taking the long view, I see the ACA's most important feature as having pushed the envelope to expand health care to the point that even (most) Republican pols can't do away with it. Oh, yes, they will try. After all, Republicans have fought tooth and nail since the Roosevelt era against the whole idea that government has a duty/mission to provide health care to all. But the ACA has moved the ball forward a couple of steps - its opponents are already finding they can't move it three steps back (perhaps one). And that's the definition of progress.

Democrats have become a bit sensitive about calling themselves "progressives," but I think it's a fine term, in part because it offers its mirror image - "regressive" - as the definition of what the Republican Party and its current standard-bearer represent.  Over time, societies choose to progress rather than regress.  I've always said the GOP efforts to put a negative spin on the ACA by dubbing it "Obamacare" would come back to haunt them. No matter what alterations they make now; it will remain a significant Obama legacy. 

(Epathetic) Dopey Donny

So, just a couple of days after delivering an address to a joint session of Congress - a speech that made Trump fans, at least, hopeful he might actually qualify at some point for his new title of "President" - there was Donald Trump again, issuing a blast of surreal, paranoid tweets in the middle of the night.  It wasn't unexpected; I'm surprised it took him so long!  But still, with every such outburst, a thinking person's opinion of "The Donald's" qualifications must sink lower. Ye gods, when will this man GROW UP and at least try to do the job he was elected for?

This episode, though, helped crystallize my thinking on one point:  We need a special kind of name for Trump: an epithet!

I recall from my high school days that an "epithet" in classical literature was a common way of attaching a positive attribute to an individual. I remember this particularly from Homer.  For example, Homer might choose to refer to Achilles as "strong-heeled Achilles."  And he would do so time after time. every time Achilles was mentioned.  (Incidentally, this did not make the reading of The Odyssey any more pleasant.)

After hearing DT attach a label to each of his opponents in the election campaign (Little Marco, Lyin' Ted, Crooked Hillary, etc.) I realized that he was emulating Homer (unconsciously, no doubt!), except these epithets were negative and hateful. I decided we really must have such a name for Donald. after all, what's sauce for the goose, you know... but I hadn't nailed it until these latest charges ("Obama wiretapped me!"). 

Given some of the characteristics I've seen, I considered "Delusional Donald" or a Homerian choice, like "Unbelievably Unqualified Don." But those are too long to grab people's attention, and have too many syllables to be grasped by the To-Be-Named himself. 

So the best I've come up with is "Dopey Donny."  This works on many levels. It sounds like something you'd hear on a fifth-grade school playground, as do most of Trump's outbursts. (The use of the diminutive "Donny" enhances this effect.) Further, "Dopey" is an old-fashioned word, as old-fashioned as Trump himself. It reflects the strange bewildered, where-am-I look that appears on Trump's face when he appears in public; yet it also aptly assesses many of Trump's policy statements. Finally, Dopey was one of the seven dwarfs, while our President seems to believe he's a giant. Dopey Donny it is. 

Perhaps you will ask, is it right to fashion such a moniker for a President? Isn't it disrespectful? Well, it used to be. But Trump himself changed the game.  He expects respect without earning it, yet had no problem using such mini-titles for serious and respectable people of all stripes.

Last, the title of this post is NOT accidentally misspelled.  I think "epathetic" nicely melds "epithet" with "pathetic."