Mar 05 2009
Oh Lord, I Agree With Chris Mathews
While many political watchers are amazed that MSNBC’s Chris Mathews would turn on Obama and the dems for not keeping their campaign promises, I am intrigued about why Obama doesn’t take advantage of this low hanging fruit? Mathews is spot on in the piece below – Obama could easily instill confidence in the administration and the federal process over all by simply sending the Omnibus bill back to Congress with redlines on all the ear marks and pork.
As the liberal media apologists note in defending the indefensible, this is not a lot of money and was left over from the last administration. Two good reasons to use it to political advantage! Obama could blame Bush (again), could pretend to make good on cleaning up DC spending (though much more pork was in the Spendulus bill), and he would steal thunder from the GOP.
So why not do what Mathews says? And that maybe the elephant in the room. The only reason not to have a Sister Soldjah moment with the liberal Congress and gain a lot of PR points with little cost is because Obama is afraid of taking on Congress.
That has to be the answer – Obama has surrendered to the Democrat leaders in Congress. There has been a theory out there that he had the potential to be a weak and ineffective leader because of his lack of experience. The failure to take this easy win-win opportunity probably is the clearest indication to date this is theory is now becoming fact.
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GayF
I see I have rattled your cage……
I was reading quite a bit about the Daschle-like proposals that were incorporated into the Stimulus that passed earlier this year. It isn’t only directed at the elderly, it’s deals with anyone who in on a government health program.
The following oped is what alarmed me enough to look into it, the numbers in parenthesis are the actual page numbers from the Stimulus that I repeat, already passed. They directly link to the page, hope they are still up:
“Hospitals and doctors that are not “meaningful users†of the new system will face penalties. “Meaningful user†isn’t defined in the bill. That will be left to the HHS secretary, who will be empowered to impose “more stringent measures of meaningful use over time†(511, 518, 540-541)
What penalties will deter your doctor from going beyond the electronically delivered protocols when your condition is atypical or you need an experimental treatment? The vagueness is intentional. In his book, Daschle proposed an appointed body with vast powers to make the “tough†decisions elected politicians won’t make.
The stimulus bill does that, and calls it the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research (190-192). The goal, Daschle’s book explained, is to slow the development and use of new medications and technologies because they are driving up costs. He praises Europeans for being more willing to accept “hopeless diagnoses†and “forgo experimental treatments,†and he chastises Americans for expecting too much from the health-care system.
Elderly Hardest Hit ”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_mccaughey&sid=aLzfDxfbwhzs
More recent, Senator Mark Warner is on a similar track:
Sen. Warner calls for discussion of end-of-life treatment
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/03/sen-warner-calls-discussion-endoflife-treatment