Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Frank Bruni, "Nazis, Lynching and Obamacare": Time for Obama to Cool the Rhetoric

Compliments to Frank Bruni on his balanced New York Times op-ed entitled "Nazis, Lynching and Obamacare" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/08/opinion/bruni-nazis-lynching-and-obamacare.html?_r=0). Bruni writes:

"The hyperbole and hysteria make any constructive debate impossible, and they insult the past, robbing important events of the specific meaning and individual detail they deserve.

. . . .

[W]e should watch our words. They have consequences. As irresponsible and detestable as the recent actions of the most conservative wing of House Republicans have been, we’d be better off without figurative talk of hostage taking and guns to heads, without headlines like one in The Huffington Post that said: 'Boehner Threatens to Shoot the Hostage.' That sort of language only turns up the heat."

Hmm, "guns to heads"? Who also made use of that figurative exaggeration? Now I remember. It was President Obama, who stated on Friday (see: http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/04/20820333-obama-no-negotiations-with-a-gun-held-to-the-head-of-the-american-people?lite):

"I'm happy to have negotiations but we can't do it with a gun held to the head of the American people."

Indeed, it's also time for Obama to cool the rhetoric and talk with Boehner, in order to avoid a disaster of epic economic proportions.




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