After more than a year of hot debate, National Healthcare became the law of the land with the stroke of the Presidential pen.  With it, however, America has become a more deeply divided nation.

With the historic inauguration of President Barack H. Obama, “change” came to America.  Gaining both the Presidency and overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate, the Democrats became well positioned to institute the liberal/progressive agenda that their core constituency has long awaited, with national healthcare as its crowning jewel.

Despite public opinion polls demonstrating popular disapproval of the legislation, the national healthcare reform bill swept through the House of Representatives with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi leading the charge.  Amidst the cheers and accolades of the bill’s supporters, the President felt vindicated having achieved his bid to become the first President to legislate national healthcare reform.

Despite Republican attempts to derail the bill, its passage has created a rift in our government with trouble in River City.  Vowing to repeal should the balance of power shift as a result of the 2010 mid-term elections, the Republicans are currently employing various tactics to force the bill back to the House for a revote.

Increasing numbers of Americans, after witnessing the power struggle in Washington, are wondering if the path that the Democrats have chosen is the right path for America.  Many questions are unanswered and the lack of transparency in the language has not been addressed.  All we know is a number of people in the country who do not have healthcare will ultimately be required to secure coverage or face a penalty issued by the IRS (Income Removal Service).

The ultimate question, however, is how burdensome taxes will become to pay for this legislation.  With a struggling economy and high unemployment, on whom will the burden fall?  Sources indicate that the heaviest tax burden would fall upon the wealthy.  But, who defines the word wealthy and how is it defined?  

Another thing of which we are certain is that some people will be exempted from the mandate.  Included among this latter group are illegal aliens, prisoners, the present Administration, and the good ole boys in the social club we call the U.S. Congress.

However there is a bright side to this, as it is estimated that the IRS will have to employ a minimum of 10,000 new agents to do the job.  The primary requirement for employment will be that those selected will have to be ruthless, because some of them may be chasing their relatives.

This bill is highly complex with a good portion of the mandates not taking place until 2013.  Some aspects of the new law, however, will take effect immediately.  According to Speaker Nancy Pelosi “pre-existing conditions and being a woman” happen with the stroke of Obama’s pen.  And, now that the bill has passed, the Speaker announced, “now we will know what exactly what we voted for.”

To summarize the passage of this historic piece of legislation, the losers are the wealthy and the big winners are the illegal aliens and the prisoners who will get free healthcare, because they are not citizens or subject to the mandate to purchase coverage.

If you think we have problems with our borders now, wait till the rest of the world hears the good news. We may have to change the sign on the Statue of Liberty to:

“Give me your tired, your poor, and your sick (with or without pre-existing conditions),

Your huddled masses, yearning to get free healthcare…” 

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”  As was the period depicted in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, 2009 was a time of tremendous highs and precipitous lows.  The year witnessed the inauguration of the first U.S. President of African-American ancestry and the nomination and confirmation of our first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice.  Yet, rising unemployment belied the reports of an economy rebounding from the brink of collapse, and investigative reporting revealed the extent to which Federal bailout funds were misspent.

 

So, who were the biggest winners and losers of 2009?  What follows is my own personal assessment.  If you have thoughts on the subject, feel free to share them by commenting below.

 

The Winners

 

The year began on an upbeat note as Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger guided his disabled Airbus A320 into the Hudson River in a crash-less landing that saved all 155 onboard and was dubbed the “Miracle on the Hudson.” 

 The professionalism of Captain Sullenberger, a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and consummate pilot with more than 40 years experience, makes him one of 2009’s biggest winners.

 

Days after the “Miracle on the Hudson,” Barack Obama was sworn in as our 44^th President and the first African-American to hold the Office.  Obama, however, was a winner in more than politics.

Shortly after his inauguration, it was announced that he had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.  In October, it became official as he became the 21^st American to win that distinction.  Despite sagging poll numbers as the year comes to a conclusion, one has to number our President as a winner in 2009.

 

Following Barack Obama’s inauguration, Hillary Clinton was sworn in as the 67^th Secretary of State in U.S. history.  If you believe the rumors of the time, Hillary’s selection to head the State Department by our President-Elect was made under duress. 

 

Nonetheless, Hillary has proven to be a very capable diplomat and an effective representative for our government among foreign heads of state and other leaders.  Kudos to Mrs. Clinton as a winner in 2009.

 

In June of this year, after many delays, television broadcasting completed its transition to digital signals.  For the many millions of households still using older televisions capable of interpreting only analog signals, that meant that they now needed a box to decode the signal.

And so, 2009 was a fantastic year for cable, satellite, and other providers of television programming.

 

2009 also turned into a good year for former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.  In early July, she announced that she was resigning her post as Governor of Alaska and shortly thereafter, commenced a nationwide tour promoting her book, “Going Rogue,” that debuted atop the New York Times Best Sellers List in November.

Palin has been enthusiastically received by large throngs at tour events.  The book’s sales and media frenzy surrounding the tour are indicative of her popularity and bode well for her possible Presidential aspirations in 2012.  And so, Sarah Palin has made it among my short list of winners for 2009.

 

The Losers

 

It seems that every year is a bad year for Congress and 2009 was no exception.  The American public today holds Congress – both the House of Representatives and the Senate – in slightly lower esteem than it holds used car salesmen.

The bailout bill (or more euphemistically, stimulus package), the debate over healthcare, and the general rancor and divisiveness of its proceedings has citizens across the political spectrum from progressives to neo-conservatives questioning the motives and ethics of Congressional actions.  And, as the leaders of the majority party in both Houses, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have become the poster-children for political ineptness (although I personally think Harry did a better job than Nancy).  In any event, Congress is on my short list of losers for 2009.

 

And, if Congress is a loser, guess who is not far behind?  That’s right:  the American people.  Rising taxes and fees, shrinking resources, high unemployment, reduced government services, expanding debt, and fewer opportunities to get ahead all blended together in a cacophony that overwhelmed any happy tunes that most average Americans might have been singing.

Like Congress, the American people may be losers for years to come as inflation, rising interest rates, and a plethora of other potential problems await us as the other shoe dropping as a result of our bailout spending spree.

 

As our economic woes continued in 2009, it is only fitting to include Bernie Madoff as one of the year’s most significant losers.  Madoff, former chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange, admitted to operating a Ponzi scheme dubbed “the largest investment fraud in Wall Street history.”  The scam accounted for about $36 billion, of which about half or $18 billion (with a “b”) is “missing.” 

On March 12, 2009, Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 federal offenses, including securities fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering, making false statements, perjury, theft from an employee benefit plan, and making false filings with the SEC.  Sentenced to 150 years in federal prison, Madoff has traded his opulent Manhattan lifestyle for a bright orange jumpsuit, a cell, and three squares courtesy of the American taxpayer.

 

Madoff is not the only of 2009’s losers whose liberty has been curtailed.  Acclaimed film director Roman Polanski may finally be extradited to the United States to face sentencing for a three-decade old child sex crime from which sentencing he fled following his conviction in 1978.  A dual-citizen of France and Poland, Polanski has hidden behind France’s denial of American extradition requests since that time.

In September 2009, however, he was arrested in Switzerland as he attempted to enter that country to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Zurich Film Festival.  He has been placed under house arrest at his luxurious ski chalet in Gstaad as Swiss authorities process his extradition to the United States.

 

Sexual indiscretions, rather than crimes, were the Achilles’ heel of 2009’s biggest loser, Tiger Woods.  Woods’ extramarital affairs with upwards of 14 different women surpassed chatter about the Holidays at water coolers, diners, and gatherings across America and the world.

Arguably the greatest golfer in the history of the sport, Woods has lost his wife, Elin Nordegren who battered him with a golf club, and is now bleeding money in the form of sponsors bailing on the once-revered athlete.  AT&T, Accenture, and Gillette have all dropped Woods or pulled advertising featuring him.  And, it has been reported that companies sponsoring Woods have lost a total of $12 billion in share value since the news of Woods’ affairs has been made public.  Who ever said that love was “free?”

Election day 2009 is rapidly approaching and, while there are few races of national significance, perhaps we should all consider the fact that our votes have put our current leaders in power.  While Bill Clinton as President was the master of circumlocution (“it all depends upon what the meaning of ‘is’ is”), many of our representatives in Washington seem to lack his coherence.  In fact, in some instances, they do not appear to have a grasp of the English language.  Take Nancy Pelosi.  In the video above, she appears dumbfounded attempting to answer a simple question posed her by Maria Bartiromo.  Well, Ms. Pelosi, is allowing a tax cut to expire a tax increase or not?  Would someone like to translate her answer?  One has to wonder about the linguistic abilities of the voters of California’s 8th Congressional District who continually reelect her to public office.