The Public Option Is Off The Table?

This brings to mind three quotes:

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard. --Mencken

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. --Benjamin Franklin

Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. --George Bernard Shaw

Well, you asked for the status quo, now you're going to get the status quo --the 37th best healthcare system in the world.

Yay.

People are crazy.

"We're number 37! We're number37! We're number 37!"

Let me see if I understand this correctly.

1. The USA has the 37th best level of health care in the world
2. The USA has the most expensive health care in the world
3. The number one cause of personal bankruptcy in the USA is medical bills.

So, The US has pays the most for nearly the worst and should a citizen get truly sick they will likely lose everything they, and perhaps their ancestors, have worked for.

That is the status quo.

Currently, if someone needs medical attention any action must first be approved by an employee of a for profit insurance company. This is scary: a company that profits from denying you treatment is in charge of deciding if you qualify for treatment.

The average bureaucratic cost of government health insurance (Western nations) is 4%. The bureaucratic cost of the current American system is 30%.

This is the kicker. An astounding number of very vocal Americans are demanding the status quo.

I always thought that Americans were, and were proud of, being number one. Not number 37.

Repeat after me, "We're number 37! We're number37! We're number 37!"

Why this is an issue is beyond me.

Okay, I hear the opposition saying they don't want some disinterested government employee standing between them and their doctor. Well, let us take this at its face value. I ask you, which would you rather have deciding whether or not you get an operation: a disinterested government employee or an employee of an insurance company which profits from your not having the operation.

Is it really that simple? Yes, it is. Let me repeat the three points I laid out at the top:

1. The USA has the 37th best level of health care in the world
2. The USA has the most expensive health care in the world
3. The number one cause of personal bankruptcy in the USA is medical bills.

Now, make your case for the status quo.

The Non-SOTU

I was not going to comment on Obama's Tuesday night speech as everything that could be said would be said. That said, "Holy crow can that guy deliver a speech!"

Really, his theatrical ability to fill the roll of the leader is unlike anything I have ever seen (or is it "scene").

In comparison Little Bush looks, well, bush. And, the Republican rebuttal was a joke. If you haven't caught The Daily Show's comparison to Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, I recommend it.

That's all. I am not going to add to the plethora of dissections that are out there. Yes, he needs a better fact checker, but who cares. What theatre. If you haven't seen it, pop over to Youtube and check it out.

President of Canada?

In an election where foreign policy might be the number one issue (let's not forget that war is foreign policy) Barak Obama has made another blunder. This one might be small, but it might not. The question is, how rehearsed was his answer? Was it a slip of the tongue or did he actually think that Canada has a president?

The quote on trade aggreements:

I would immediately call the president of Mexico, the president of Canada, to try to amend NAFTA, because I think that we can get labor agreements in that agreement right now. And it should reflect the basic principle that our trade agreements should not just be good for Wall Street; it should also be good for Main Street.

There are several issues with his statement I will list two.

1.) Canada's government, a parliamentary democracy, has a very different form of government from the USA. Up there the figurative head of state is the Queen and the head of the government is the Prime Minister, there is no President. Barak should know this. Should he win the nomination and, subsequently, the election he will be meeting with Kings, Queens, Princes, Emirs, Presidents and Prime Ministers. It would be a good thing if he knew the difference.

2.) It is arrogant of him to think that he will just call up Mexico and Canada and alter agreements that have bolstered the economies of both nations. Canada is to a large degree an exporting nation, it is not in their best interest to "amend" an agreement that gives them relatively free access to the largest import and consumption driven market in the world. Why would they want to "amend" NAFTA? Why would Mexico? To bail out the US whose consumption addiction is now even more devastating than before due to their plummeting currency?

I don't believe that Obama's faux pas will have an effect on the primaries, but should he win the nomination, the merciless Republican machine will have yet another weapon to use to destroy him.

Obama's First Big Mistake

I said "Big." Yes, he has made a few little ones, but with his comments on Pakistan he has already caused an international incident and he doesn't even have the nomination yet. This will not serve him will in the primaries and will be devastating if he wins and has to go up against the Republican machine.

The AP is reporting that several senior Pakistan officials are speaking out against using their country to gain political capital at their expense. Those officials are right. This is an party intramural championship to see who will go to the finals and represent the party in the big competition. While stating views on foreign policy is necessary for the constituents to make informed decisions, actually causing international incidents is the job of the victor. Barak has overstepped his position. Angering foreign governments is currently Bush's job.

Mr. Obama needs to find a way to make his positions on international affairs known without prematurely raising the ire of our allies: it is called diplomacy. If he cannot do this and if he gains the nomination, he will give the Republican candidate a winning issue: foreign policy. And make no mistake, foreign policy might be the largest issue of 2008.

On this Hillary is winning hands down.