To the modern ear the Uncle Remus stories sound racist because they’re in the dialect of the “old South,” and call to mind Jim Crow and demeaning racial stereotypes. But I agree with Professor Damon Fordham (catch his excellent analysis in the video below) that the witty tales told by West African story tellers, passed on to American slaves, collected by folklorists in the late 19th century, published by Joel Chandler Harris as The Tales of Uncle Remus, and ultimately popularized by Walt Disney (Song of the South) should not be buried under a pile of political correctness. They deserve a better fate.
Republicans can benefit from the most famous of these stories, about “Bre’r Rabbit,” the wolf, and the tar baby. As Professor Fordham tells it, the wolf saw that someone was eating the peanuts in his peanut patch, noticed rabbit tracks, and decided to put up a scarecrow. But Bre’r Rabbit was not fooled by the scarecrow and kept eating the peanuts. So the wolf took a big lump of tar, dressed it in clothes and a hat, put a pipe in its mouth and a cherry for a nose. Bre’r Rabbit saw the tar baby and thrust out his hand to shake the tar baby’s hand. When his hand got stuck, Bre’r Rabbit tried to dislodge it by pushing the tar baby away with his foot, which also got stuck. Suddenly the wolf appeared, wrapped a bandana around his neck, and proclaimed “We’re gonna have rabbit stew tonight!”
Bre’r Rabbit replied, “You can cut off my head, you can boil me in the boiling water, but please please please don’t throw me in the briar patch. You can cut off my ears and slit open my stomach, but just don’t throw me in that briar patch.”
Which the Wolf prompted proceeded to do, tossing the rabbit up in the air and into the brambles.
Then Bre’r Rabbit said, “You forgot two things. Number One, I was born and raised in the briar patch. And Number Two, I am now free to eat your peanuts again.”
Obama’s Bre’r Rabbit Act
Before he flew off to Martha’s Vineyard to join his fellow 0.01 percenters, President Obama played the rabbit at his press conference, telling Republicans “Please please please don’t shut down the government in order to defund Obamacare.” Specifically:
“And let me just make one last point about this. The idea that you would shut down the government unless you prevent 30 million people from getting health care is a bad idea. . . I can tell you that the American people would have difficulty understanding why we would weaken our economy, shut down our government, shut down vital services, have people who are not getting paid who then can’t go to restaurants or shop for clothes or all the other things that we’re doing here, because Republicans have determined that they don’t want to see these folks get health care.”
The press is dutifully playing along. Every one of the Sunday talk shows re-played Obama’s warning not to shut down the government. The reason is obvious. Obamacare is quickly turning into precisely the epochal “train wreck” that Sen. Max Baucus predicted. Hardly a day goes by without Obama suspending another part of the bill, or granting preferred insiders (such as Congressional staff) a waiver, or seeing it attacked by another friendly interest group (Big Labor, IRS employees). It is becoming alarmingly apparent to Democrats that ObamaCare truly is “historic legislation” – the worst legislation passed by Congress since the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. Democrats find themselves inextricably stuck in the Obamacare tar baby.
137 Frequently Asked Questions ! ! !
To appreciate just how bad this law is, you need to do something media pundits rarely do — read the actual legislation, along with hundreds of associated rules and regulations. They comprise an impenetrable thicket of arcane legalese that even Obamacare experts cannot decipher. Consider, for example, yesterday’s New York Times story, “A Limit on Consumer Costs Is Delayed in Health Care Law.” It turns out that way back in February the Labor Department delayed for one year Obamacare’s limit on out-of-pocket deductibles. However, no one noticed the change for six months because it was “obscured in a maze of legal and bureaucratic language” in the DOL’s answer to one of 137 “frequently asked question.” Roll that around in your brain for a minute. 137 “frequently asked questions?” From just one of the many agencies implementing Obamacare? No wonder job growth is weak and small business confidence remains near recession levels. It’s so bad even economists may eventually notice.
Don’t Throw Obama in the Briar Patch
Rather than defend the indefensible for the next year leading up to the 2014 elections, the Press and the President would like to change the subject from ObamaCare to the imminent shut-down of the government by the dastardly Republicans. Rather than explain why he grants so many waivers to his wonderful legislation, and offers a delay to the business mandate but not the individual mandate, Obama would much prefer to explain how he will protect Seniors, Children and Veterans from budgetary Armageddon.
To win the 2014 election, Republicans should not let Obama change the subject. They should force votes in the Senate and the House that oblige Democrats to vote for it or against it. Many of those who vote for it will be vulnerable next November. It’s that simple.
Dumb Wolves?
Some tough guys on the right disagree. Senator Ted Cruz, along with radio heads Limbaugh, Hannity, and Levin, want the House to fund the rest of the government but not Obamacare. They admit this scheme would never become law. But during the legislative impasse Senator Cruz would “take our case to the American people.” Sorry, Senator; Obama and the Press will make sure your case is never heard. Even leaving aside their political bias, media types would much, much rather cover the excitement of the coming government shutdown than try to explain dreary details of health insurance that, frankly, they don’t understand.
Let’s avoid playing the dumb wolf to Obama’s smart rabbit.
Copyright 2013 Thomas Doerflinger. All Rights Reserved.
