During a speech Sunday night in Boston, ex-president Obama praised the courage of those Democrat congressmen who voted for Obamacare knowing that their votes may cause them to lose the nice new jobs they had just landed in Washington.  And many indeed did.

These congressmen knowingly voted against the wishes of the people they swore to represent in Washington.  And the loss in the next election proved it.  They may be heroes to Obama, but is their action really praiseworthy?  Was the vote a show of personal courage or a show of disdain for those at home who chose them to be their representatives?  Was it courage, or was it oath-breaking and betrayal?

What is the job of an elected representative?  To vote as those who elected him wish or to vote his personal convictions even if it goes against the will of the citizens?  Are these people in Washington to rule, to order us what to think and how to live, or are they there to govern, to make the Washington bureaucrats organize the government so that we can live as we think is best for us?

I am a cynic.  I think the reality was a lot less heroic.  These congressmen just found themselves between a rock and a hard place.  There was Grandma Nancy with D.C.'s version of "plata o plomo," silver or lead, reward for voting party line or punishment, no money, no help in the next election.  And they chose rationally – after all, elections were a long way off, and many things may happen on the way to the voting booth. 

For Obama, the answer is very simple.  These people supported him against the deplorables, against the people who cling to their guns and religion, so they must be heroes, intelligent, far-sighted, and well worthy to rule this Land of the Free.