PRESIDENT OBAMA SAYS RIDICULOUS THINGS ABOUT HEALTHCARE

President Obama, in his remarks following the House vote on the Senate healthcare bill said that that this bill was a "common sense" reform. If this was the case, why did it take more than a year to get it done? Why was it is so contentious? Why was it passed without a single Republican voting in support? Had it been a "common sense" reform, none of this would have been true.
He also said the passage of the bill was not a "top-down" effort, but came from the bottom up. How can that be said when every poll taken reflected overwhelming opposition on the part of the American people? This was most definitely a top-down process involving pay-offs and arm-twisting like we've never seen.

PAUL KRUGMAN SHADES THE TRUTH

Paul Krugman's most recent column ("Now, Finally It's Time For GOP To Put Up Or Shut Up") is a perfect example of how he often distorts the truth. He notes that "conservatives have backed away from spending cuts they themselves proposed in the past". He is referring to the fact that Republicans, about twenty years ago wanted to cut Medicare spending, and that they now oppose the Democrats' plan to move about $500 billion out of Medicare in order to help fund their Health Care/Health Insurance Reform bill(s). Sounds like a purely political flip-flop made by the "Party of No". But it isn't, and Krugman knows this very well.
The Republicans oppose stripping the Medicare budget for two reasons. The first is that Medicare is on a course to insolvency. Taking money away from the program will only accelerate its demise. Secondly, the Republicans doubt that Democrats will, when push comes to shove, actually take money away from Medicare. Cutting entitlement programs is not their M.O. The Republicans expect that the Dems would contoct a way to take $500 billion out of Medicare, spend it on their Health Care program, then restore the Medicare budget with tax increases.

PRESIDENT OBAMA AND THE SPECIAL INTERESTS

President Obama is always screaming about special interest groups, and how they are spoiling our political processes.He especially seems to detest Big Pharma and the health insurance companies. So why is it that the pharmaceutical and insurance industries signed on to the Democrats' health care bill? Because deals were struck. Big Pharma signed on when the president promised not to pursue legislation that would authorize re-importation of medicines from Canada. Why did the insurance companies agree to basically to be regulated like utilities? Because the health care bills contained a provision that would require everyone to buy a health insurance policy. In this way, the profits they might lose in margin would be made up for in volume. So the president isn't above deal-making with special interests, while at the same time blaming them for their influence.

PRESIDENT OBAMA, FACE THE FACTS!

President Obama has to face the facts. Although most people like him personally, the don't like his policies. His pursuit of health care reform has been a nightmare. He out-sourced the writing of the reform bill to Reid and Pelosi in an attempt to avoid a repeat of President Clinton's mistake of formulating a plan without the input of Congress. Since there was no congressional investment in Clinton's bill, Congress had no allegiance to it, and when the American people smelled a rat, no one was willing to support it. Now, no one in Congress is willing to walk the plank for health care reform since the people still smell that rat. President Obama has wasted a lot of time and political capital on an journey that was almost doomed from the start, an almost quixotic quest to where no president had gone before. There is a reason why other presidents have failed to enact health care reform: The American voters don't want anything that approaches a government take-over of the health care system!
Time to face the facts.

THE PARTY OF "KNOW BETTER"

The Democrats have portrayed the Republicans as "The party of 'no'". They have blamed Republicans for the failure, so far, to pass a health care bill. This, even though they have the presidency, a majority in the House, and (until today) a fillibuster-proof majority in the Senate. The Dems could have passed any bill they wanted. The problem is, they couldn't write a bill they wanted. They could only write bills nobody wants. And I mean nobody.
But even though the American people don't want the House or Senate bills passed, the Democrats think they know better. They really think that when the full provisions of a health care bill kick in (three or four years from now), the American people will love them. Because everybody loves an entitlement. People love Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, unemployment insurance, etc., even though they were too stupid to understand them when they were first proposed. Of course. The Dems think they know better what is best for the nation than the nation itself. They don't understand why anyone would decline health care as a "right", as Senator Harkin believes it is.

THE MEANING OF THE MASSACHUSETTS SENATE ELECTION

The future of the Democratic Party's health care reform efforts are very much in doubt. Most people think that the only way a bill will be passed is if the House of Representatives swallows the Senate bill whole. Don't look for that. Instead, there will be several smaller bills passed that can be supported by some Republicans. This is what the Republican leadership has been after. This won't satisfy the left wing of the Democratic Party, but it's the best they can get. This way, the Dems can say they got some reforms passed on a bi-partisan basis.
The real consequence of this election, however, does not concern health care. It concerns "cap and trade". As legislation, it is dead. Democrats, after seeing the results in Massachusetts, won't have the stomach for legislation that Candidate Obama conceded would "necessarily" cause energy bills to "skyrocket". Not that President Obama will give up on "cap and trade". He'll just have the EPA impose regulations that will get the same results. This will take congressional Democrats off that particular hook.
But achieving "cap and trade" through administrative fiat will put President Obama on the hook all the way. He already is regarded as arrogant and unconcerned about the popular opinion of his policies. His turning EPA regulators loose on CO2 emission standards will only reinforce the negative opinion that Americans are developing about their president.

MASSACHUSETTS SENATE ELECTION

There is much to say about the ironic election of Scott Brown to fill the senate seat of Ted Kennedy. This election is seen by many as a referendum on the agenda of President Obama generally, and on the health care bill specifically. While this may be true, there is one factor which must be kept in mind in interpreting the results of this election. Massachusetts already has had a law on the books which provides health care for its citizens. The health care bill pending in Washington offers nothing for Massachusetts. If it were to pass (and this is not certain), the people of Massachusetts would be taxed to provide health care for the remainder of the nation without receiving any benefit themselves. No wonder the pending national health care bill was unpopular, and this contributed to a big Republican victory.

WHEN IMMIGRATION REFORM AND HEALTH CARE COLLIDE

Some sort of health care plan will become law within the next month or so. It will likely not contain two major provisions that were originally at the heart of the plan. These are a "public option" and "universality" of care. The first has received a lot of attention, but the latter... not so much. Although health care coverage will be expanded, millions of people will remain uninsured. Who are they, and why isn't this the subject of more discussion?
The people who will remain uninsured are illegal immigrants. The Republicans don't want to discuss this, because they are cool with it. Democrats don't want to discuss it because they are embarrassed by it, and besides, they have in mind a couple other ways to skin this cat. One way around the exclusion of illegals from the health care plan is to allow them to purchase participation in a health insurance exchange with their own money. This will be debated by Democrats during reconciliation. While this might find its way into the final bill, many illegals will still find it too expensive to participate. So, what then?
Well, when the Dems turn their attention to immigration reform, this will be resolved when they propose an easy path to citizenship for illegals. Having attained citizenship, these people will entitled to participate fully in the health care program, and universal coverage will be achieved.

A SERIOUSLY FLAWED BILL

Paul Krugman, in his column today, describes pending health care reform legislation as a "seriously flawed bill". Of course it is. Then why does he also regard it as "an awesome achievement"? Why is it so important that this legislation be passed now, when Krugman believes congress will spend "years if not decades fixing it"?
It's because passing a health care reform bill has become an end in itself for the Democrats. Two of the main goals originally sought in the legislation were universal coverage and a public option. These are absent in the bill that will likely come out of the conference committee. But never mind if the bill is a shadow of that originally dreamed of. It's a bill that will become law of the land. That's all that matters at this point.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

Know what the secret is to telling a good joke? Timing.
Remember when the $787 billion stimulus bill was passed? We were told that there were many important municipal, state, and federal projects that were "shovel-ready", lacking only financing to upgrade our infrastructure and to create jobs. We were told that the money would go out the door quickly, providing a jump-start to our economy. Really?
Now, it turns out, only a small percentage of the money has been spent. The money will be spent on a schedule that is in sync, strangely enough, with the federal election cycle. More money will be spent as the mid-term elections approach, but most of it will be released in advance of the 2012 presidential election. Timing is everything.
Same is true with the health care reform bill(s) that the democrats are advancing. The taxes on businesses and individuals to pay for the expansion of health care coverage will begin immediately. However, the implementation of most of the "reforms" will be delayed until 2016! How come? Two reasons. First, this allows the "first ten years" of the program to appear inexpensive, because the money being spent in four years (2016-2020) will be spread out over ten (2010-2020). That's government accounting for you. Secondly, President Obama will be able to point to future "benefits" of his health care reforms during his campaign since there will be no evidence at that time - pro or con - that real reform has been achieved. There will be evidence of its expense of the program, but none that the expense has been worth it.
Timing is the secret of telling a good joke. But I don't see any humor in this.

HEALTH CARE REFORM THAT NO ONE WANTS

No one wants the Health Care Reform legislation that is pending a vote in the U.S. Senate. Not a single Republican will vote for it. The extreme left wing of the Democratic Party is very opposed to the senate bill. Howard Dean, Arianna Huffington, and Markos Moulitsas all want the bill to die because, among other things, there is no provision for a public option. But thanks to pay-offs to Senators Landrieu and Nelson, and concessions to Lieberman, the bill will pass with 60 votes in a early morning session on Christmas Eve.
Then what?
The bills passed by the House and Senate will go to a conference committee for "reconciliation". The problem is, the bills are very much different in areas like the public option. Democratic senators, with their 60-vote majority still tenuous, are unlikely to accept a bill which is different than the one they passed. So, Nancy Pelosi has a decision to make. Does she accept the senate bill as written and betray her hard left constituency, or does she thumb her nose at President Obama and sink the whole thing?
Great political drama.