Reply #14: I respectfully disagree with you on this point [View All]

[salvorhardin]

Have you seen how many people in this country think government run health care is socialism and is bad? I mean when you have ignorant statements from people like "Keep the government" out of my medicare, you have a problem.

An overwhelming majority of Americans wanted single-payer or a public option. The people who think as you describe are out there but they are in the minority and have been blown way out of proportion by the media. Obama and the liberal Democrats could have pushed through meaningful reform if they had been bolder and more aggressive at countering the right wing lies machine. And while I too chafe at the misuse of expanded Presidential power, there is a difference between use and misuse. Being a strong advocate for either single-payer or a public option would have been the right thing to do.

But they allowed the public to be misled by the propaganda and lies. They never used the political leverage they had. They never advanced a bold progressive plan on which they could have then compromised and still ended up with meaningful reform. Instead, their starting point was one of capitulation leaving us with this mess. All in the name of phony bipartisanship.

And yes, I think we can blame Obama because he simply didn't care to do what he was elected to do. While it's clear that we're pretty much getting what Obama wanted from the start, that doesn't exonerate him. That doesn't let him off the hook. This is a moral and ethical issue and he has failed, just as he has failed on other moral issues such as expanding the surveillance state, extraordinary rendition, and ending the war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Look, you know I'm not some knee-jerk reactionary willing to sacrifice the good for the perfect. I'm not trying to torpedo this bill even though it is a massive windfall for the insurance companies. In the end, it does do some marginal degree of good. It will help some people who currently don't have any health care. But let's not overlook the fact that it will also put an added burden on lower income working people while forcing them to buy into a health insurance plan that they may not even benefit from. Nor should we overlook the moral cowardice of the Democrats including Obama.