Some of the latest from the ongoing debate over ObamaCare...
Obama orders full speed ahead
The Washington Times [4] op-ed has a nice paragraph that summarizes fairly simply why the plan needs to be defeated.
At stake is the biggest policy initiative of the year-old Obama presidency, a rewrite of the nation's health care system that would trim hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicare, expand Medicaid, mandate that every American join a plan and rewrite rules telling insurance companies how they can operate.
Exactly.
Are Democrats whistling past the graveyard on ObamaCare?
Via Julie Mason [5]:
Republicans warned they will use Obama's reliance on parliamentary moves to push the unpopular bill through as a top campaign issue in the fall. Democrats are hoping Americans ignore rhetoric about voting procedures in Congress and credit them with passing something.
"I don't know how this plays politically, but I know it's right," Obama said of his latest proposal.
Uh huh. Of course the fact that we have extremely different ideas about what's "right" is beside the point.
You've got me babe!
Chris Stirewalt [6] has an interesting take on what's going through Obama's mind on continuing to push his reform, (hint: the number one sin)
Obama's original health strategy was meant to be a rejection of Hillary Clinton's approach of issuing policy by diktat. Obama's disdain for the Clintons led to an overcorrection and a failed first year in office.
Now, in order to avoid Bill Clinton's political mistakes of 1994, Obama is promising to force Democrats to pass his plan instead of Clinton's eventual acceptance of defeat.
The president believes that the party's universal health care plan of 16 years ago lost favor with voters because of the sales pitch or the diminishing popularity of Bill Clinton.
As the president is said to have told retiring Rep. Marion Berry of Arkansas and a group of restive congressmen unhappy with the idea of being cannon fodder in the health care war: "Well, the big difference here and in '94 was you've got me."
Obama's ego continues to blind him to political reality.
And the sun came up in the east this morning...
How much is that ObamaCare in the window?
So just how much DOES ObamaCare cost? Now and/or in the future? That's something The One doesn't want to spend a lot of time on. The Wall Street Journa [7]l takes up the issue...
'Every argument has been made. Everything that there is to say about health care has been said, and just about everybody has said it," President Obama declared yesterday as he urged Democrats to steamroll his plan through Congress. What hasn't been heard, however, is even a shred of White House honesty about the true costs of ObamaCare, or its fiscal consequences. ...
At his press conference yesterday, Mr. Obama claimed that "my proposal would bring down the cost of health care for millions—families, businesses and the federal government." He said it is "fully paid for" and "brings down our deficit by up to $1 trillion over the next two decades." Never before has a vast new entitlement been sold on the basis of fiscal responsibility, and one reason ObamaCare is so unpopular is that Americans understand the contradiction between untold new government subsidies and claims of spending restraint. They know a Big Con when they hear one.
Which helps explain why there are NO polls showing even a plurality of the American people, (much less a majority), in favor of this thing.
