Will the real Obama please stand up and be counted? That’s the guy I really want to see … and that’s the guy we need and, most important, that’s who I voted for.
I don’t need that smiling, confident, politically proper person who acts more like a Washington insider than the outside critic. I need the S.O.B. I suspected lurked beneath his “white bread” veneer. Not only do I need him, he needs him! We need him! I want what I believed I voted for: CHANGE!!!
This is the second in a series on the Obama Administration’s abysmal progress in what was supposed to be the turning of a new page in this country’s governance. Though I concentrate on the health care issue, Obama’s approach across the board is mired in a lack of leadership. From transparency to Gitmo, to the war in Afghanistan, all I see is more of the same. The economic front seems to show unsteady progress. But real improvement is so tightly tied to confidence in Obama’s leadership which is directly linked to his failed health care reform, that real progress is questionable.
I am a liberal … probably a far more left-leaning liberal than most voters for Obama could tolerate. The first of my articles, titled “Obama’s Mistake” detailed how the administration lost control of the medical reform issue, how botched the politics became, and how Obama should have really played the game. But, alas, we are now where we are. The question is: “What should the administration be doing from here on in?” That is the subject of this article.
However, my perspective is not that of a starry-eyed, head-in-the-clouds liberal. My eyes are on the prize. Reforming our medical care system is not an idealistic argument. It is an imperative. It’s about justice — especially since we live in the dominant industrial country in the world.
In my view every American citizen has the fundamental right to proper medical care. The basic decisions regarding that care should be in the hands of the physicians and the patient, not some insurance company trying to hit a bottom line profit number. And, for sure, these decisions should not be up to some lower-level clerk who is given an approval quota under threat of being fired if they exceed it.
This isn’t the only corruption. It is much worse. Politicians (both Democrats and Republicans) are accepting campaign funds from the health insurance and pharmaceutical companies. The implication is to defeat any substantive change in this country’s health care industry. Since the number one priority of politicians is to get re-elected, we are not exactly assured they will do the right thing.
The framers of the constitution never envisioned the American political system as we know it. Corporate America is America! A few privileged people who draw big salaries dominate the system. We don’t count. Therefore our health and well-being don’t count. Given a choice between what is good for the corporation and what is good for the average citizen, the influence-peddling corporate giants will always win.
If some well-intended guy comes along and wants to give the average Joe and Jill a bit of a break, he’s got to get in a monumental tangle with some of those giants. That’s exactly what is happening. They are going to grind him up and teach him a lesson.
Obama has messed with those famous primal forces Ned Beatty talked about in the movie “Network.” You see, an Obama win on health care would be transformational. It will mean a massive shift of power away from our servitude to the credit card companies, the oil cartels … and producers of war materials. Obama’s reformation of health care would the most massive social benefit for the average citizen in almost 50 years. That is simply not acceptable!
If the plan isn’t defeated, the Republicans will be out of favor for at least a decade. That’s only a by-product of an event that would be even more cataclysmic. Two gianormous industries would be rendered far less profitable — pharmaceuticals and health insurance. Who would be next? The arms and munitions makers? What will America be left with? We don’t manufacture very much more. We could become a very poor nation owing other countries lots of money with a huge national debt and high unemployment. Oh I forgot, we are all those things too.
By design. The opposition has taken control of the conversation. Ironically, some of the very citizens who would benefit the most from health care reform have become the foot soldiers for the insurance industry. All the potential red, white and blue emotions have been played upon. Every nerve end and open sore has been rubbed bare. Emotions are high, issues are irrational and intelligent discussion has long ago left the podium. This is the American underbelly, and it’s not a pretty sight.
What is Obama to do at this point? If he does the wrong thing and try to appeal to congress’s better conscience, it’ll be like spitting in the wind. Now is the time for that S.O.B. I was talking about. Obama must now lead by intimidation, blackmail and every other nasty tool in his arsenal. Forget consensus. Play dirty and look clean. That’s the game!
And he must set the real health care program he always wanted firmly into play. There can be no compromise. The single-payer system must become his goal. And, this time define it in simplistic terms so every American can understand it. It’s “all-or-nothing time.”
And what happens if he doesn’t get the program he really wants? Let it go down in defeat. Because if he doesn’t get the program that will really work, all his enemies will point and say I told you so. Otherwise, we will never get justice in health care.
The idea is to stand for something. Right now Obamacare stands for nothing. It’s do or die! But Obama has got to be an S.O.B. I know it’s inside him somewhere. Now’s the time to let the evil twin loose!
You can’t survive Chicago politics without being tainted a bit. Rahm Emanuel has got stop playing the bad guy. Besides, he is too cozy with insurance and pharmaceutical companies. Contributions for Obama’s next run are not as important as surviving the ineptitude demonstrated in the health care initiative. Do what is in the public’s best interest now or the next election won’t matter.
Now is the time for this president to be the toughest he can possibly be and stop listening to advisors. But, can he do this? It’s a mess; the vision is muddled. It’s time to right things and show leadership and gumption. I want to see the S.O.B. If he can’t, there goes the effectiveness of his presidency. If that happens he will be a one-term president. Who would replace him on the Democratic ticket? Hillary, of course.