The National Pastimes
By Michael Boyajian
Let me apologize in advance to fans of other teams, but my father was a lifelong Yankee fan and I am a lifelong Yankee fan. So I know a little something about baseball. I also know a bit about politics.
The big question one asks about a team that is doing poorly is do you replace the manger or the players? The front office of a lesser team will hit the panic button and take out the manager while a good team chooses to work on the player roster.
The same holds true in politics. If a political party is not doing well do you replace the leader or the other players? Well the American people seem to be answering that question in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts by voting out Democrats and voting in Republicans. Yet President Obama, the leader of the Democratic Party, continues to have good polling when compared to other presidents at this point in their respective terms.
It is the Congress not President Obama that is to blame for the electoral set backs of late. The president for instance presented his call for healthcare early in the first year of his presidency. It took almost a year for Congress to act on it and now because of their procrastination the entire program is in jeopardy. Can you blame the manger when a player doesn’t hustle down the baseline?
In August when the tea baggers were upending Congressional town halls on healthcare the House and Senate leadership was no where to be found. One suspects they were poolside in their warm weather home states. Do you blame the manager when a player sits in the locker room playing cards during a game instead of on the bench mentally engaged in the happenings on the field?
Time and time again President Obama has come in and answered his call to duty only to have Congressional leaders drop the ball and voters who also love baseball are imposing their wrath on Congress not the president and that is why politics is the other National Pastime and fans react the same way in both games. They also know that, in the words of Yogi Berra who wears ten World Series rings, the game is not over till its over giving hope to Democrats for a walk off game saving homerun this November.