Bush & Company

April Twelfth

On this day in 1861, shots fired by confederate soldiers on the Charleston Harbor island of Fort Sumter, South Carolina, signaled the start of the Civil War.

On the same day in 2006, a banner universal health care bill was signed into law by Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts. Once more a contender for the Republican presidential nomination, his greatest achievement as governor he feels he must now downplay because of its unfortunate link to President Obama's plan, despised by conservatives, but modeled after his own. A better approach for Mr. Romnay would be to confront the problem and deal openly with his base.

Treading on eggshells is often the path taken by the politically ambitious; suppressing a significant accomplishment, more rare.

Poor Mitt is in an awful bind
As pundits hasten to remind
His health care model is the source
Of the Obama tour de force.

That imp Obama had to smile,
A smile that he could not repress,
When praising Mitt's like statute while
His chances dwindled down to less,

Whose landmark law could be to blame
For one more disappointing loss
And causing him---that albatross!
To hang his handsome head in shame.