The Mediocrity of Barack Obama
You're to be forgiven if you thought Mr. Obama actually said something. In my entire life I've never seen such a cynical, manipulative, double-dealing speech. After the reign of W. that's almost impossible to believe, but it's true. Mr. Obama makes every argument known to man in favor of public health care, then in an elevated, lawyerly way weasels out. "The public option is only a means to that end — and we should remain open to other ideas that accomplish our ultimate goal." When straight shooters say something they take pains to speak so unambiguously that nobody can misunderstand. But when weasels say tricky things they use weasel words to cover their tracks. Straight shooters never use weasel words. It's an infallible way to tell who's who. Translated, what Mr. Obama said is that the Senate Finance Committee will pass a bill with minor restrictions on health insurance corporations, one that requires all citizens to buy health insurance, that offers a substitute for a public option in the form of "triggers" or "co-ops," and that restricts medical malpractice litigation. The House, he says, will just have to go along with Max Baucus, or else.
What's especially interesting here is that Mr. Obama, in an amateurish political misstep, decisively lost the elderly. Just as he lauds the public option only to give it away in the next breath, after he speaks of the "sacred trust" of Medicare he says "[r]educing the waste and inefficiency in Medicare and Medicaid will pay for most of this plan." Seniors — those not yet suffering from dementia — know perfectly well what he means: reductions in coverage. And it won't take long for Republicans to explain things to those who weren't paying attention.
It's also interesting that Mr. Obama has thrown down the gauntlet to progressives and that progressives, initially at least, seem totally confused. Skimming through cable news and the internet it's difficult, so far, to find any progressives who refuse the bait. It takes a seasoned centrist like Doyle McManus to point out the President's real intent.
Overall, this speech leaves us pretty much where we were before. If we want a public option then the progressive members of the U.S. House of Representatives must stand fast in demanding it and be prepared to vote down any bill that doesn't have it.
Chances of meaningful reform: one in five.
Posted by George Kenney on September 10, 2009 3:33 AM 
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Comments
While I'd have preferred (a massive understatement) that Mr. Obama had said "I will not support, let alone sign, any bill that does not have a Medicare-upon-request option in the insurance market," I am not surprised and no less frustrated than before I watched this speech.
A plain and simple declaration of what he demands (I make no assumptions as to what this is) from Congress is just too much to ask, apparently. Perhaps because of political gamesmanship? We are not done with this act of the great American circus. Far from it. And one thing he did last night was make yet another gesture to the bought and paid for members of Congress (not quite ALL of them) to bring themselves and their better ideals to the table.
Maybe... Nah. Maybe he wants to do the right thing later by force and thus be able, later, to cite all manner of opportunity to "get with it" squandered by the rabble. I doubt it, but it's not a foregone conclusion.
I am an avowed cynic (realist), and I don't think that this nation is populated by or led by people who can overcome their selfish delusions of freedom and never-ending plenty and do what needs to be done. Sacrifice a little, help each other out, pay some ante into the community pot, stop killing people all over the place and stop grinding what's left of the planet into combustible pulp. But maybe I'm wrong.
Meanwhile, read Joe Bageant today:
http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2009/09/americans-have-become-weak-and-fearful-things.html
My current "pleasure" reading is Edward Abbey's The Brave Cowboy (1956). A movie was made from it in 1962. It says a lot about all this from "way back then." Astonishing how deaf and stupid Americans seem to have been destined to become.
Posted by: Peter | September 10, 2009 8:30 AM
Peter,
I have been catching up on Joe's columns after having heard him on EP, my local public radio and reading the book when it came out. It's highly recommended for anybody who reads in EP here regularly.
A new book of these dispatches from the class war should be ready soon. We can hope for that.
In the meantime, just one idea of Joe's like the one about sending blow up dolls of Sarah Palin to the troops in Iraq is priceless.
Posted by: loninappleton | September 10, 2009 10:52 AM