In these days of autumn madness, with America's sports fanatics immersed in their fantasy football, here's a new game even non-fanatical Americans can play:
It's called fantasy governance.
Just like fantasy football, it is based upon the real performances of famous stars. Except in fantasy governance, the names and performances of famous stars are intentionally mixed up, making the competition even more challenging for Republican and Democratic game-players.
Here we go.
Today, in our first game of fantasy governance, we will be rating the fantasy performance of President Hillary Clinton in her campaign promise to repeal and replace her predecessor's health care reform program. (And of course we will be especially interested in what our Republican readers, who have long made no secret of their understandable dislike and distrust of the former first lady, will be thinking after they are presented with results that were actually achieved by America's 45th president.)
In her first eight months in the White House, she has made health care reform a top priority.
But she never proposed her own health care alternative. Instead she said she was willing to sign whatever the Democratic-controlled Congress sent her. So when her Democratic-dominated House sent her its first plan, she was so happy she threw a White House Rose Garden party for all House Democrats _ even though she didn't know what the plan would actually do to the health care of America's trusting middle-class citizens.
Then, when the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the House plan would actually deprive more than 20 million Americans of their health insurance, she called that same House plan "mean" _ and asked the Democratic-controlled Senate to come up with a better plan. And when her fellow Democrats in the Senate couldn't, she attacked them, called their leaders bad names and, faster than you could say "Benghazi," President Hillary demanded the Senate simply enact that House plan she had just called "mean."
Why? Well, you know Hillary: She had promised you she would immediately repeal and replace her predecessor's "failed" health care program. And she intended to keep her promise no matter what hardship it imposed upon the people _ even though she knew millions of them were her people, the middle-class Americans who had played by the rules and had trustingly made her president.
But even that plan failed when some in the president's own party refused to go along. Which led President Hillary to turn her anger upon the congressional leaders of her own party. She still hadn't proposed a replacement for the existing health care plan. And she still refused to try to work out a bipartisan agreement with opposition party leaders. Instead, she shamed her own party's congressional leaders into trying again. But this time, Clinton and her party tried to rush their repeal and replace plan through so fast that the CBO couldn't provide a complete analysis. Still, the CBO issued its preliminary estimate that "millions" would lose their health insurance under to so-called replacement plan. After that, three senators from the president's party announced they'd vote "no," and the vote was cancelled.
Yet, on Wednesday, President Hillary bizarrely insisted publicly and repeatedly that "we have the votes" for the Senate to enact the health care repeal and replacement plan _ but that one senator was in the hospital and couldn't vote. But that was flatly untrue _ doubly so.
TWEET! There's the game-ending whistle. And our first game of fantasy governance concludes with no one being shocked. Republican readers _ having long fumed at Clinton's explanations about Benghazi, her emails, and other lame matters _ obviously weren't surprised to read President Hillary made such a claim.
We're back to reality now: All readers know three Republican senators had announced they'd vote against the plan _ and there weren't enough votes to pass the plan. Moreover, Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., wasn't in the hospital but was recuperating at home; and even if he voted "yes," the three opposing Republicans meant the plan would have been defeated.
Indeed, while we know Hillary didn't say any of that, President Donald Trump actually did say, and do, all of the above.
As fantasy governance has reminded us: We all knew the truth about our president's compulsive lies. Game over.
