By John Lindstrom
Publisher
Posted: October 9, 2013 3:02 PM
Anyone who has read The Three Musketeers remembers when Cardinal Richelieu wrote out his carte blanche – “It is by my order and for the good of the state that the bearer of this has done what he has done” – and has marveled at that masterpiece of all-encompassing and terrifying vagueness, embracing everything and nothing, acknowledging everything and denying everything at once.
The art of politics often requires such vagueness, a necessity toward building agreements and providing political cover. But for reporters and the general public it can be maddening. It is why we keep after politicians to say more clearly what they are trying to say. Politicians generally prefer to stay vague.
Consider an op-ed piece written by U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) this week. Everyone is focused on the federal government shutdown, the looming possibility of a federal default and what will happen to the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare, and his piece speaks of the need for dialogue.
It takes as decisively a moderate tone as one could in this age, referencing former President Ronald Reagan who was able to craft agreements with congressional Democrats, how the American people are rightly outraged at Washington (without casting blame on anyone specific and holding all sides accountable by mentioning no one) and how all sides should begin negotiating.
But what does this specifically mean: “By anyone’s estimation the Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare, is not off to a good start. Higher premiums, broken promises, missed deadlines, endless delays, and online glitches are plaguing the system and impacting families and employers across the country. The law is not ready for primetime, and while the president has made numerous changes to the law himself, he remains unwilling to work with Congress to make additional reforms. To move forward, in the immediate future, let’s look for bipartisan support to address some of the most glaring problems like the law’s medical device tax, which will cost Kalamazoo employer Stryker nearly $100 million this year and already resulted in 1,000 layoffs.”
Is Mr. Upton, one of the biggest players in the U.S. House, taking a total “defunding” of the act off the table? Is he setting up conditions President Barack Obama could signal he agrees with? In fact, is Mr. Upton saying, ‘agree to these conditions and we will vote for a clean continuing resolution to end the shutdown?’?”
Or as reporters, are we trying to draw too much out of Mr. Upton’s writing?
A spokesperson for Mr. Upton could not add further clarity to the matter, saying they would let the op-ed speak for itself. It was a call to get all sides talking, the spokesperson said.
Yes, but ... but how? Mr. Upton’s op-ed is specifically vague enough to drive one whacky trying to assess if this is a grand gesture or just a pleasant piece of breakfast reading.
Such documents as these are what make reporters lose their hair.