Just in time for Memorial Day weekend, in an amazing example of evolution, President Obama announced he wouldn’t enforce regulations written by his own Administration.
I’m sure we’ve all heard about the ADA swimming pool lift requirement by now. In order to make swimming pools and spas accessible to Americans with Disabilities, all facilities were required to install permanent lifts in every public facility, at a cost of at least $6,000 each, by the end of May. Locations with multiple pools would be required to install a lift for every single pool on their property. Of course, each lift would need to have a qualified operator and lifeguard on duty.
Beyond the cost and hassle of getting the lifts installed, hotel insurance companies weren’t even sure if they would be able to write internal policies for them. Needless to say, the risk of lowering a quadriplegic into water over his head presents a liability problem or two. The cost could be so great that most facilities would just eliminate their pools. It’s why diving boards disappeared (I still haven’t forgiven personal injury attorneys for that one). I can only wonder what would happen to water parks, since most modern high-speed slides seem a tad hazardous for people with limited mobility.
Summer is second only to Christmas on the kid calendar. It means long days of hanging out in the pool and family road trips during which the majesty of the Grand Canyon is dwarfed by the anticipation of getting to the hotel in time for a swim before dinner. Shrewd recession-struck parents avoid the high cost of gas and complaints about a boring canyon and just take their kids directly to the closest Holidome®. Not every family is as fortunate as the First Family to be able to afford the Spanish Mediterranean, Martha’s Vineyard, or a Hawaiian villa.
Needless to say, most facilities will just close their pools. And I’m quite certain that all the disappointed tourists will be told their vacation was ruined by President Obama.
Which is why the regulations had to go. But they were not eliminated — only suspended. Facilities will now be given until January to comply. It’s the same time when Obamacare goes into effect, the Bush Tax Cuts expire, and Vladimir Putin gets to see the President’s “flexibility” in its full glory. Once the election is over, the Hope mask gets tossed.
Which is why it is imperative that he be defeated in November. If these four years are the worst of any President in History, imagine what is on the horizon for the next four. An Obama Administration without a restraining re-election bid is like a lawnmower without an off switch. It just keeps going Forward.
And if he wins, there is a chance that swimming pools will be as faded a memory to this generation as the memory of a summer jackknife off the high-dive are to me.
We can’t let that happen to the heirs of our debt.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.