Health Care Reform #1 - Obama & the Oligarchs

First, I am not going to panic. The health care reform war has just begun. Three years from now when this pathetic proposal currently being settled upon (if passed) is exposed as the legislative crock that it is and another win-win for the oligarchs of the nation, Barack Obama will have another chance to get it right, and so will the Blue Dog Democrats (unless they are all voted out) who are selling you and your children down the river.

But until then, my only thought is I am deeply disappointed in Barack Obama.

Regarding the health care debate, this is not the same guy who was out on the campaign trail, on message, keeping his opponent off-balance, speaking to the people, and not the news guys, but a real guy, with flaws, but focus. He jabbed people into submission with a relentless assault like Larry Holmes the champion boxer.

That is how he gets back in charge of the debate. Get back to the basics. Start jabbing. Every day. All day. No mercy.

If a cut opens up, aim for the cut. Stop playing defense. Punish the resisters by calling them out. Ask them why are they against change? When they try to fight back with nonsense, more jab, more punishment.

People keep talking about debate. What debate? Okay, 85 percent of us have a health plan. But how good is it? Some us with good family plans pay $4,000 a year in premiums and thousands of more dollars in deductibles, co-payments, and drug costs. Of course, that is with a good company. We have a flu vaccine coming up; what happens to the guy with asthma, who really needs it, but who is broke and can't get the shot? What about the landscaper with no coverage who chops his fingers off cutting grass? What does he do? Maybe the local tailor will sew his fingers back on.

So, what do we want? As I recall, we wanted universal health coverage and so did Barack Obama. Then how did we wind up with a health reform plan designed by oligarchs?

We want it so if you lose your job you don't lose your access to health care. You've got it. We also want to pay reasonable prices for our medical care, and we want it in a reasonable time period without an insurance company playing games with our lives. We don't want too much bureaucracy either.

How can anyone, who isn't a millionaire/billionaire, be against this? If you are against this, you aren't human. So leave. Next plane to Mars, enjoy; health care there is free.

So here's the deal.

Obama must get out front and state what he wants clearly; he hasn't. This is the only way people will be ready to go to the mat for him like during the campaign. He has done it before; he can do it again.

If he won't define the battle so we can win it, be quiet, reduce our taxes by 10 percent, and cut the defense budget by 10 percent, so we can pay our medical bills, which are going up under the current proposals, for certain. Oligarchs really like money.