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September 14, 2009

Obama will get what he wants, and it's Not Health Care

Obama won't surrender in his war of choice

For most of the previous presidency, the Left accused George W. Bush of using 9/11 as a pretext to attack Iraq. Since January, his successor has used the economic slump as a pretext to "reform" health care. Most voters don't buy it: They see it as Obama's "war of choice," and the more frantically he talks about it as a matter of urgency the weirder it seems. If he's having difficulty selling it, that's because it's not about "health."

As I've written before, the appeal of this issue to him and to Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank et al is that governmentalization of health care is the fastest way to a permanent left-of-center political culture – one in which elections are always fought on the Left's issues and on the Left's terms, and in which "conservative" parties no longer talk about small government and individual liberty but find themselves retreating to one last pitiful rationale: that they can run the left-wing state more effectively than the Left can. Listen to your average British Tory or French Gaullist on the campaign trail, pledging to "deliver" government services more "efficiently."
He'll get some form of health care plan rammed through because it's key to permanently shifting America left.
Mark Steyn

So why can't the silver-tongued post-partisan healer seal the deal on this health care business? Surely it should be the work of moments for the greatest orator in American history to whip up a little medicinal Gettysburg, a touch of Henry V-in-the-Agincourt-casualty-tent, and put this thing away. Yet there he was the other night with the usual leaden medley of tinny grandiosity (all the this-is-the-moment, now-is-the-hour stuff), slippery reassurances (don't worry, you won't be "required" to change your present health arrangements), imputations of bad faith to anyone who takes a different view (they're playing "games"), and the copper-bottomed guarantee that you can have it all for no money down, no interest, no monthly payments, no nuthin' ("I will not sign it if it adds one dime to the deficit").

This would barely have passed muster four months back. After a summer of seething town halls and sliding approval numbers, it was a joke. Or, rather, it would be a joke if the president's intention was to persuade an increasingly skeptical, if not downright hostile, electorate. On the other hand, if the intention is to ram it down America's throat whatever the citizenry thinks, then the joke's on us.

If it was about "health care," it would be easier. It was assumed, for example, that the president's sly revision of "47 million people without health insurance" in his summer speeches to the substantially lower 30 million was a concession to those who said that his "plan" (he hasn't actually produced one, but why get hung up on details?) will cover gazillions of illegal immigrants.

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22 comments:

Opus #6 said...

A reasonable man would surrender and move on to other things. Obama is an unreasonable man. He is determined to "fundamentally change" America into his image of a Utopian nanny state. I hope that the American Patriot/Activists put the fear of the electorate into the legislature, at least. We are not going to get through to Obama.

Left Coast Rebel said...

A permanent left of center through health care. If that doesn't tell you everything, nothing will.

Anonymous said...

Opie, I have no doubt the Dems will push a public option through even if it costs them the House AND the Senate. It will work out better for them in the long run.

They don't care about Tea Parties. They don't care about elections either. Acorn will take care of most of that.

Anonymous said...

Rebe, you're right. Remember... This whole thing has NOTHING to do with health care for the poor or uninsured. It's only about POWER.

Stenio Guilherme Vernasque da Silva said...

Nickie,
In Brazil, there is a health care with public investimental.
It´s a mistake without exit...
Not fucionability
I worked 12 years in Public MD.
Nothing to remembre with happyness.
Only sad situation...
See you!

Anonymous said...

Stenio, muitos americanos acreditam que a medicina pública irá resolver todos seus problemas. Muitos americanos acreditam que o mundo inteiro faz as coisas melhor do que nós. Eles também acreditam que o capitalismo e os negócios estão mal. Eles confiam apenas o governo. Essa é uma relação de confiança ruim.

Anonymous said...

Goomba, et al.,

Obama is a true believer. And he is in office until 2012. What he sees is the clock ticking down until 2010. They all know it's going to be bad. A lot of these clowns don't want to go back to work in the real world.

I couldn't disagree more that they don't care about elections, with all due respect, Nick. I think power (or the loss of theirs) is all they really care about. It's what this healthcare debacle is about, as Steyn ably notes.

Now ... polls are showing the public has age-old doubts about Demo competence (imagine that), and the Demos are needing to pass something to show they are not just completely impotent. They can't pass a public options -- and won't -- for many reasons. But they can and very well might pass other restrictions, regulations and such that make healthcare more in need of their brand of "rescue". So, keep a sharp eye out.

LL said...

If it was about healthcare there are a number of rational options to reform the system that WE ALL can agree on:

* Tort Reform
* Portability
* Opening the market so all companies can compete in all markets.

Dear Leader isn't interested in those reforms because they don't further the socialist agenda he demands. And he knows that if he can't get it rammed through by 2010, it won't get through. It's simple as that.

Teresa said...

Its not about health care. Its about control and power over the people. Obama knows this will change the playing field in the LEFTS favor dramtically, also. The man is hard headed, unreasonable and arrogant. He should start using those big ears and actually listen to what the people want and need as far as health care reform goes.

Anonymous said...

DC, if we're talking about the on-the-ground politicians, I agree with you. Our only hope is that those guys and gals get a powerful whiff of reality and put their own political careers above Party.

I guess I'm talking about the international money guys and power brokers who are looking way past 2010. These are the folks who provided the giant bags of foreign cash for Obama's run. The George Soros types! The Unions! They want to change the rules, move the goalposts, and change the field of play. Beyond that, they probably don't care who the players are.

Opus #6 said...

http://www.redstate.com/blog/2009/09/14/democrats-lack-the-votes-to-pass-health-care-legislation-in-latest-whip-count/

Nickie, the link above is to a story that says the Dems don't have enough votes to pass HR3200. I hope they are right. But I worry about the back-room dealing. Didn't those cheap ^%$#s sell out cap and tax legislation for 2K apiece?

Anonymous said...

Ope, I ain't believing anything until I see it. One of them Dems' plans is to get us to let our collective guard down.

Stenio Guilherme Vernasque da Silva said...

Nickie,
O SUS (Sistema Único de Saúde) Public Heath Care Brazil,
é manipulado em seus números finais.
Promete-se um plano de saúde com coberturas "gold", mas se presta serviço like a "shit"!
This uthopic dreams aren't real things!
Just a mistake, and populist act.

Anonymous said...

"This uthopic dreams aren't real things!

Just a mistake, and populist act."


Stenio, I think you've said that beautifully. I hope people will realize this.

Eu acho que você disse que lindamente. Espero que as pessoas percebem isso.

Fuzzy Slippers said...

heh, I love the Agincourt reference. It is odd that BO has essentially stuck his fingers in his ears, closed his eyes, and begun frantic, loud, and far too frequent iterations of his government-run healthcare plan.

I think his presidency is already a dismal failure because of this whole disaster he's orchestrated (tin ear and all), but I guess it looked this bad for Clinton in 1993, too. I'm ready for another clean sweep of both Houses of Congress next year.

Anonymous said...

Fuzzy, I hope you're wrong, but the Chicago machine knows how to make such things happen.

LSP said...

Great post - moving the goalposts leftward is surely the strategy and one that seems to work. England's a case in point and France and Canada and...

Teresa said...

I think that Fuzzy's right. BO has used pretty much all of his capital and has lost the trust of the American people. He's going to have a very dark and failed presidency.

Anonymous said...

LSP, England, Canada and France should surely serve as warnings to all of us.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Terri, but that doesn't mean he won't play dirty. Believe me, we haven't even seen dirty yet. There's all kind of ugly stuff going on behind closed doors.

Anonymous said...

NG: Please, don't publish his picture to often! It ignites my diarrhea! :)

Anonymous said...

Mammy, toughen up and squeeze.