“WHAT WOULD Jesus think about Obamacare?”
That was the question asked by Fox News emperor and bestselling super-author Bill O’Reilly last week. It led to what I thought was a simply hilarious segment, with film clips and paintings of Jesus looking like the typical “Aryan from Darien,” as Auntie Mame declared.
The “debate” really seemed to boil down to Jesus not supporting people on food stamps, many of whom Mr. Reilly thinks are coke heads, meth addicts or just plain “lazy.” (A “significant minority” he says.) Well, now that the House has cut food stamp benefits down to $1.40 per person per meal, those drug addicts and lazy folks — mostly white, by the by — will just have to buck up.
What would Jesus really think about Obamacare? I think he’d be pleased somebody was trying to piece together a health care plan that took care of this country’s neediest. Whether the current plan over-reached or was under-researched, helping the needy is surely right up there on the Jesus bucket list. No matter President Obama’s naiveté or hubris — depending on your point of view — I am astonished when people act like he is trying to introduce the U.S. to smallpox or Ebola. Jesus said, on the other hand, “When you do it for the least of those, you do it for me,” or words to that effect.
I don’t think the President has been able to make his case clear on this and many other issues since his first term. Partly he and his staff are to blame, partly, there is the baldly stated intransigence of the Republicans. But Obama is not a bad man who wants to destroy the country. Or drag it further into pointless war. (The Syria thing — “We’re gonna bomb, BUT let’s go to Congress first” looked ramshackle. However, things seem to be progressing on the matter of chemical weapons, and we are not yet at war with Syria.)
Here’s what the Bible says of the poor, in Proverbs: “Open your mouth for the dumb, for the rights of all the unfortunates. Judge righteously and defend the afflicted and needy.” Translation: Let’s see House Republicans live on $1.40 a meal. |
