And as I was angered over the thought of Obama and the Left playing politics with the lives of sick kids, I got a small sense of déjà vu...when was the last time something like this had happened? And it came to me...Saddam Hussein.
Saddam Hussein Obama
Let's take a little trip in the Way Back machine. Uncle Saddam had millions to build palaces while he told the world that the US oil embargo was preventing him from buying food and medicine, and that it was our fault that children were sick and dying. Filmmakers and reporters were invited to tour hospitals (accompanied by a government "Minder", to accompany them, and intimidate whomever was interviewed or filmed.) After the invasion, we found medicine moldering in barracks of his Republican guard. Baby formula provided to Iraq under the Food for Oil program was found throughout the gulf after it had been resold for cash. Illegal oil sales reaped millions more for Saddam, which he refused to use to feed and care for his own children, when it was in his power to do so, because children were nothing but political pawns to Uncle Saddam. Means to an end, to tug on the heartstrings of the West, so that they would lift the sanctions and he could continue to increase his wealth and power unabated.
I approached John about doing the caricature of Obama as Saddam with some trepidation. In most cases, this would be hyperbole. Sadly, here, it is not. There is a direct analogy between the actions of Uncle Saddam and Barry Hussein.
In the case of cancer, the earlier it can be diagnosed and treated, the better the outcome. By turning down the offer to take kids dying with cancer off the table in the fight over Obamacare is heartless. And it is spawned in the heart of the Democrat party.
On the evening news last night, there was a story of a local woman, up in the Auburn, California area, whose cancer treatments were being put on hold because of the government shutdown. My heart went out to her. Then, I thought of the misery that Obamacare style healthcare causes all by itself. I recently did a post on the healthcare system in Canada, "Obamacare Previewed in the Frozen North", which noted that under "free" government health care, there is a nine month waiting period for an MRI scan. Additionally, there was ire and calls to make it illegal to purchase the services privately.
Now let's take our sick Auburn lady and those 200 sick children and lets move them across the northern border (or into a similar healthcare system): Would they even have been diagnosed yet, much less their treatment started? As bad as it is (and avoidable) for their treatment to be delayed even for a few days or weeks while our government dithers, the real question is, would Obamacare delay those treatments for months, with no other recourse?
Democrats say they won't approve parts of the budget "piecemeal"...except, they already have! By passing a special provision, that the president has bragged about signing, to make sure that our servicemen get paid on time, Obama tacitly acknowledges that a piecemeal approach can be desirable when taken on matters of urgency.
Obama and Reid, and those who support them, are willing to let children and adults alike be denied cancer treatments in order to bolster the "optic" that Republicans are mean spirited and uncaring. It is partisan politics, pure and simple, and despite what the administration and their fellow travelers are trying to sell, it is Obama who is unwilling to ease the suffering of sick children...just like the other Hussein.
Original art work created for Proof Positive by John Cox
Cross posted at LCR