A rock and a hard place

LARRY ANDERSON
Larry Anderson

Politics can sometimes put a practitioner of such between the proverbial rock and a hard place. One can think of the rock as the strength of our system and the hard place as a skeptical public.

It is hard to juggle all the demands that come with an elected position without slipping on the pebbles underfoot. Sometimes I am sympathetic with politicians because I know it is impossible to make everyone happy; other times I am positive they get what they ask for.

It seems to me Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill is between a rock and a hard place. She is up for reelection next year, but she is a liberal in a red state turning a deeper crimson. Trump won Missouri in December; Missouri’s governor, the immediate offices under him, and the state legislature is solidly conservative. No systemic support there for Claire.

McCaskill will not be able to manipulate the system as she did her last election when her opponent was the hapless Todd Akin, a media and liberal pushover if there ever was one. You may recall McCaskill and her political cohorts early on described Akin as someone they thought would be a formidable opponent but in fact saw him as the easiest one to beat. By chatting up her concerns about Akin’s skills with the help of big media, McCaskill was able to fulfill an easy victory when Akin stuck his big foot in his wide mouth.

Here’s what Summer Ballentine of Associated Press said recently about the likelihood of Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley being McCaskill’s next opponent: “By coalescing around Hawley, Republicans could avoid a repeat of 2012 when McCaskill admitted she meddled in the GOP primary and succeeding in getting the challenger she considered the weakest, U.S. Rep. Todd Akin.”

Well, it isn’t unusual for the GOP to be tardy to a dance led by aggressive liberal politicking and a big media whose political/professional morals are looser than a saloon girl’s in Dodge City circa 1878, but I think it is safe to say Republicans are now onto the tactic of selecting one’s opponent via phony expressions of fear and respect. It’s not going to work anew with Hawley, a savvy riser, or whoever the candidate may be.

It is useful, though, to know how McCaskill operates.

The Senator will also be squeezed by her alignment with the Affordable Care Act, that woefully misnamed travesty still plaguing those struggling to pay more and more for less and less.

McCaskill, you should recall, was an enthusiastic voter for Obamacare when the bill came to the Senate at a time when the liberal path was wide open. When the ACA began to fail, McCaskill sought the middle of the road, but it is quite clear she still supports it though humming for “bipartisan“ reform, as if that is what Dems really want.

Obamacare is crazy unpopular despite its liberal wonderfulness.

Insurance carriers, you see, are dropping like flies on strychnine, making it harder, if not impossible, for those seeking coverage to find it.

Many states now have only one insurance carrier left; as a result, there is no competition which drives up the cost, especially for the self-employed who pay for coverage out-of-pocket. This rising cost gets passed on to their customers. How could it not?

Obamacare must have young, healthy participants to have any success, but many young people are opting out. They either can’t afford insurance, resent being required to buy it, or don’t feel they need it.

There are two million fewer people on coverage this year than last, a trend that is the opposite of what is needed to hold down costs.

Co-pays are going up.

Deductibles are going up.

Confidence and support are going down.

Hopefully, you noticed the diligence with which Hillary Clinton avoided talking about Obamacare during her campaign. Questions about it were rarely directed to her by compliant media, and she didn‘t bring it up herself.

That’s because it wasn’t pleasant to talk about, but also because it wasn’t her baby. That one belonged to Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Senatorial supporters like Claire McCaskill, the midwife who helped push the baby out.

What I expect to hear next from liberals in general and McCaskill specifically is how the terminal condition of Obamacare isn’t the fault of those who put it in place, but of Republicans who haven’t yet found a quick solution to the Democrats’ mess. Good luck dumping that garbage.

Yup, McCaskill is definitely between a rock and a hard place. She’ll need to push that good ol’ Missouri girl persona for all it’s worth, which is nothing.

One can’t escape the squeeze, Senator, by slickness alone. Not anymore.

Larry W. Anderson is a retired educator, author and Bearcat.