| ...or so the Republicans proclaim. But wouldn't it be just a kick in the shins for Republicans if health care does turn out to be Waterloo, and Obama is Wellington?
Not that I'm claiming to be an expert on Waterloo, or Wellington, or Napoleon, but it seems health care reform and Waterloo are a bit different. For example, one is a bill to reform health insurance, and the other was bloodbath. Then again, if the estimate that 18,000 Americans die every year for lack of insurance is accurate, then they're actually quite similar in casualties.
Still, not that I know everything, but I'm reasonably sure the British bragged about their victory after the battle. As the thin red line fired volleys into the advancing column of Imperial Guard, they might have focused more on musketry than punditry, while the Republicans would have been back at the field hospital telling the wounded that those bullet holes hurt so much because they were in a government hospital. |
| For those unfamiliar with the battle of Waterloo, including, I suspect, Michael Steel and Jim DeMint, in 1814 Napoleon was sent off into exile to an island in the Mediterranean after the allies defeated France. Napoleon controlled no part of France, not the executive branch or any house of any legislature (am I being too obvious?) Rather than using exile to think about how he lost, Napoleon decided he just needed a better campaign (Demand Wellington show us his birth certificate!), so in 1815 he went back to France to reform his army, and he found himself in Belgium facing armies from Britain and Prussia, each roughly the size of his own.
Showing a better grip on reality than certain modern political parties (I don't care if all the scouts say the same thing, the British army is just a hoax, or at least it isn't man-made!) Napoleon decided to fight the allied armies separately instead letting them join and outnumber him. He fought the British army under the Duke of Wellington in hopes of defeating it before the Prussians could arrive, whereas Wellington hoped to avoid defeat until Field Marshall Blücher came along with the Prussian army.
The British and French fought a nearly day-long battle, long by the standards of the time. With the clock against him, Napoleon threw everything he had at the British, who refused to break no matter how many times they had to explain that "wise Redcoat" comment. The battle stood at basically a draw when the Prussians arrived and the French were forced to retreat.
So if I haven't annoyed Republicans enough by pointing out the risk of boasting their way to foolishness, or by thinking through their historical analogy to show they really don't want the implied result, then surely I crossed one line: I compared them to the French they so love to hate.
As a complete tangent, may I just point out that this bizarre prejudice conservatives have against France seems to be the last socially acceptable bigotry --- not immediately relevant, but it's long bugged me. May I also point out that while the French lost, they fought almost everybody else in Europe, and nearly won. |
