ObamaCare vs. FDR's wheelchair Jack Kemp Who could be a more iconic figure for Democrats than FDR? But even the initial version of his Washington, DC memorial insulted and dismissed the disabled population. The ObamaCare bill do the same to them - on a daily basis. But would Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, Obama's "Health Czar," want to give medical coverage to a 48 year old pre-presidential Franklin Delano Roosevelt in a wheelchair with polio? Keep in mind FDR was also famously a smoker who used a cigarette holder. Pres. Roosevelt used to go for hydrotherapy treatments to Warm Springs, Georgia (he died there in spring of 1945) and for anyone familiar with "Health Czar" Emanuel's philosophies, it is realistic to assume that ObamaCare would never pay for hydrotherapy treatments of a less politically connected person than FDR who suffered from the same ailments. In fact, a statue of FDR in a wheelchair placed outside the National Roosevelt Memorial (it is seen about halfway down this local Roosevelt Island, NY newspaper page) http://rooseveltislander.blogspot.com/2009/02/celebrity-signage-included-at-proposed.html is the result of outrage by disabled people and their formal organizations at the Washington, DC, Franklin Roosevelt Memorial not including such n sculptural image to inspire the disabled. Private donations paid $1.6 million to have this wheelchair statue created and lobbied to have it placed near the entrance of the Washington memorial to Roosevelt. The memorial opened in the late 1990s and the additional statue was placed there as the Clinton Administration came to an end. It seems Pres. Obama has chosen to forget the more personal aspects of the legacy of Franklin Roosevelt, as well, in an era where a signer for the deaf appears onstage at many a national political convention. As The National Organization of Disability stated in 2001 at the wheelchair statue's dedication, http://www.nod.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Feature.showFeature&FeatureID=127 "President Clinton dedicated a new statue of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a wheelchair at the FDR Memorial in Washington, D.C. on the morning of January 10, 2001. The statue, the first to depict a world leader using a wheelchair, will be located at the entrance to the seven-acre Memorial site in Potomac Park, between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. "This dedication represents a great victory for people with disabilities. FDR's Memorial finally will acknowledge his significant disability experience, which forged his leadership qualities-courage, determination, and compassion-that enabled him to successfully lead the nation through the worst crises of the 20th century," said N.O.D. President Alan Reich. "This magnificent statue will be an inspiration to people worldwide, disabled and non-disabled alike." ' By clearly indicating a lack of willingness to help the old with disabilities (take the painkiller and skip the pacemaker) in a national healthcare system, the Obama administration would hope the physically challenged would take a different inspiration from the statue of Franklin Roosevelt: turn to stone and shut up. I thank Robin From Berkeley, a regular American Thinker contributor, for the idea for this piece. P.S. Someone commented at American Thinker on this blog, mentioning Wilma Rudolph. For the rest of you, as some may recall, this young black woman who had childhood polio won 3 track and field gold medals in the 1960 Rome Olympics. Her childhood, in summary, was this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilma_Rudolph 'Wilma Rudolph was born prematurely at 4.5 lbs., the 20th of 22 siblings, and caught "infantile paralysis" (caused by the polio virus) as a very young child. She recovered, but wore a brace on her left leg and foot which had become twisted as a result. By the time she was twelve years old, she had also survived scarlet fever, whooping cough, chicken pox and measles. Her family drove her from Clarksville, Tennessee to Nashville, Tennessee regularly for treatments to straighten her twisted leg.' In 1952, 12-year-old Wilma Rudolph finally achieved her dream of shedding her handicap and becoming like other children. END OF QUOTE In the 1960 Olympics, at the start of the Civil Rights Movement, I remember the liberal network sportscasters touting (and rightly so) this young black woman's heroic achievements off the track and on it. Now the Obama administration and Obama himself, who laughs at Special Olympics athletes on the Tonight Show, want to deny the future Wilma Rudolph's of the US a chance at ever getting better or spectacularly well because they think they won't be "productive."