I read Bill Dodd’s take on Obama’s speech. And I thought I had a mildly dark vision of the political scene. Perhaps a different lens will help, a softer ear. Ah, yes, here’s one. Now, let’s see. The President’s speech was advertised as a clarification, a plain talk statement of what we may expect - both the insured and the uninsured. So, just let me get this lens in place and tune my ear, Okay. Wow. That’s not what it was at all. A little bit maybe. But that wasn’t where it was going. It was an emotional rallying cry. It was drama. It’s been a slouchy debate over a piece of legislation with all the luster of dry toast. Few have read it. Indeed, there are representatives and senators who proudly display signed oaths on their websites not to vote on the bill until they have read it. Talk about going the extra mile. So the Republicans gave it some sex appeal. Those Republicans are getting better at the sex thing. They gave it some zing. Death panels. Free service for undocumented immigrants. Crushing taxes on the beleaguered rich. Unfathomable increases in the deficit. Socialism. The end of the free market. Your doctor handcuffed and gagged by a government bureaucrat. And, not surprisingly, as between dry toast and sex, the sex was gaining traction. Sex has such a strong appeal that it mattered little that the Republican attack was founded on outright falsehood or philosophical nonsense with all the substance of air. And as the political atmosphere turned slowly brown with bull, not a few elected representatives began turning whatever color it is you turn with political fear … chartreuse?

So the speech. Look guys, it’s them and us. And I’m going to make it picture clear. Watch. I will say something and you will cheer and they will sit on their hands. Watch now. I will say something and they will have to clap. See that? Can I make it any clearer. I didn’t want to have it them and us. But that’s how it is. They wouldn’t vote free care for their own grandmothers if it meant that we were going to get credit for accomplishing something. I’m going to make them sit there like school kids in detention. Watch. See that? Sour faces, yawns, texting their sex kittens. And, if I’m lucky, one of them will get really out of line. Look. See. Joe Wilson. I knew I could count on Joe. So I’m asking you, guys, why do you keep wasting your time on them? Let’s move the ball.

What amazed me about the speech was how perfectly the Republicans played their part. They were surly, feigned inattention and mumbled disapproval as if they were paid performers. I especially enjoyed the parts where the President forced them to come to their feet and clap and then, moments later, made them mumble in their seats. And Joe Wilson. What can I say? An Oscar? Best scoundrel displaying stupidity in a supporting role. I’d say: Let’s hear it for Joe, but we are already hearing too much about him. I watched CNN let some old Democratic stalwart and one of those thin-lipped blondes who has Republican spokeswoman written all over her have at it on the Joe thing. And you gotta love those Republicans. While the bill specifically excludes undocumented (illegal) aliens from receiving any benefits under the bill, the blonde insists that although Joe’s behavior was “context inappropriate,” Joe was right and the President was wrong. How so inquires Wolf. She explains that the bill is fundamentally flawed and the President wrong because the bill does not specify what document or documents you will have to show to qualify. Wolf lets it go at that. You would think he would ask: What documents did you have in mind? But no. CNN not big on follow-up questions. We did mount an effort to weed out undocumented (illegal) aliens who were receiving Medicaid benefits some years back. One result of the effort was the discovery that there were almost none. The other result was the exclusion of a lot of citizens who didn’t have the documents to prove they were citizens. Do the Republicans favor a national identity card?

As drama and as rallying cry I thought the speech was wonderful. I loved every minute of it. But, of course, with this lens and this ear I wasn’t expecting anything else. It was a political speech appropriate to the political atmosphere. I wish we were all thoughtful citizens represented by thoughtful people who were chosen to engage in thoughtful, empirical dialogue. Perhaps someday. Bill Dodd is dead on. His analysis is bold, loaded with perspective, and appropriately grim. As he says, you can inhabit a lot of different planes. I picked the tv sitcom plane. This is not where I prefer to live and, ultimately, it is a dead end. But for a night it was fun.