He May Be Toast
Let me make a flat, unambiguous prediction: If Mr. Obama does not produce a health care reform plan with a true public option, he's toast. He may well be toast in any case, on account of his escalations in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Iraq, and an ever-lengthening list of "Bush-like" and "Bush-plus" policies. But health care is the deal-breaker. It seems to be obvious now to most Americans that the reason we don't have a sensible national health care system is because the monopolistic U.S. health care lobby doesn't want it; less obvious is what the large majority of Americans who favor a public option will do if betrayed by their elected representatives. We're being treated as if we're just plain stupid — maybe we are, but maybe we're not, not yet... the next step being for a lot of people to say that our government is illegitimate. My guess is that that's coming regardless, sooner rather than later if health care isn't fixed.
Posted by George Kenney on June 24, 2009 9:41 PM 
« Iran's Gen X | Main | Actions Count »
Comments
After reading a bit in propagandist Frank (Mr. Death Tax) Luntz I have begun to ask where the phrase "health care reform" came from.
The issue is now and has always been medical care.
So "universal single payer medical care" would change the ownership of the message.
This is not a petty change. Insurance companies provide no health care nor medical care either.
Lastly medical care has not been demanded as a civil right as it is in all other developed countries. The so-called public "option" is the only legitimate alternative.
Posted by: loninappleton | June 24, 2009 11:05 PM
Why do otherwise intelligent men keep thinking and talking as if the President of the US actually runs anything. The reason Obama injected Goldman Sachs his cabinet, and the reason they call the economic shots, is because they are the boss, Obama is the employee. Don't you see: get rid of your mythological lenses. The US is run by these people. The pillars of the US are its dollar hegemony and its guns — the military. That's why Obama is doing what he is doing in the Middle East; that's why he is giving Wall Street carte blanche, that's why the corporations lay down the law. The American people to this regime are simply fodder. If you think big pharma is going to deliver your ideal medical system, dream on! Draw the obvious conclusions. Quit swallowing the blue pill. Wake up and face reality.
[Sorry, but that's too simplistic. Mr. Obama could produce real reforms if he tried. Where do you think Medicare came from, or Social Security, or Civil Rights? If you think the structural forces at work in the U.S. always overwhelm the individual you might as well just lay down and die, because nothing you can do matters... g.]
Posted by: Jim | June 24, 2009 11:15 PM
The sickness-profit and other lobbies have bought themselves a president and a congress, fair and square. Why, then, should anyone be surprised if those lobbies now demand a return on their investment?
More broadly, that Barack Obama is a utter fraud is a fact which the US seems to be taking an unconscionably long time to realise.
[Nice to hear from you, Hamish! g.]
Posted by: hamish | June 26, 2009 6:14 AM
The Cost Conundrum
What a Texas town can teach us about health care.
by Atul Gawande
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_gawande?yrail
Posted by: Jim | June 27, 2009 10:31 AM
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14178
Henry Kissinger reduced the almighty powers of the Federal Reserve to one line: “Who controls money controls the world.”
Former chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan, who served for 18+ years in his position, was asked by political talk show host Jim Lehrer: “What should be the proper relationship between a chairman of the Fed and the president of the United States?”
“Well, first of all, the Federal Reserve is an independent agency, and that means basically that there is no other agency of government (including the executive office) which can overrule actions that we take,” Greenspan responded matter-of-factly. “So long as that is in place… then, what the relationships are don’t frankly matter.”
In light of the above statements, it is safe to say that it is not US Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama who holds the reins of real power in America, but rather Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Fed.
Indeed, last December’s Newsweek magazine proudly announced that Bernanke was the “fourth most powerful person in the world,” behind Barack Obama, Hu Jintao and Nicolas Sarkozy, but ahead of Gordon Brown, Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin (fourth, fifth and sixth place in the Newsweek power list went to central bankers, Bernanke, Jean-Claude Trichet (EU) and Masaaki Shirakawa (Japan), as opposed to national leaders)!
[Well, I'm sure that if the Fed started to exercise real independence that the President and Congress would rein it in quite quickly. g.]
Posted by: Sandy | July 1, 2009 2:07 PM
[Well, I'm sure that if the Fed started to exercise real independence that the President and Congress would rein it in quite quickly. g.]
You've got to be kidding George. You're confusing the tail with the dog. Look at Obama's cabinet. Look who is at the helm of the Fed. Look who took out Glass-Steagall. Wall Street is the dog, Congress is the tail. They are bought and compromised. Look at what people do, not what they say. Of course, Obama has to be made to look like the chief. But his actions tell you otherwise. Of course, Congress has to "deliberate," but their actions — or non-actions — tell you otherwise. Are there exceptions? Of course. That is why they are called "exceptions." Therefore:
"So long as that is in place… then, what the relationships are don’t frankly matter."
Posted by: Sandy | July 6, 2009 2:02 PM