Sword and Sextant

…maybe not even the essentials. (Audio)

This has gotten a bunch of play today, and rightly so. Stemming from an IBD article and a few legal opinions, there is a real danger that private coverage -as written- may not be permitted under the health care bill entering the House (actually, it just got scuttled in a committee, but I digress).

Obama has admitted, when asked during a conference call, that he isn’t aware of that part of the Bill. This is a stupid admission on any level, and another instance in which the teleprompter wasn’t able to keep Dear Leader on topic and away from his own foot-in-mouth Bidenisms.

Let’s now acknowledge that Barack wants this passed with all haste and little debate in both houses of Congress so he can rubber stamp it. Let’s also acknowledge that it will change the relationship between the US Government and its people probably forever, and alter the social policy trajectory of this country forevermore. Obama’s ignorance of his own bill (well, he outsourced it to Congressional Dems, as usual) now glares more brightly than ever. At least read the important ones, dude.

This is part and parcel of Obama’s scary-ass governance style.

1) Raise a huge stink, yell bloody murder, scare the crap out of the voters to get a mob going;
2) Let Congress write the whole damn thing, stoke the fires of fear;
3) Quash all debate “in a bipartisan fashion,” blame Bush for something;
4) Pass bill to accolades, hedge on promises;
5) Remind us that the promises didn’t really count, and that “everyone” knew it would be different;
6) Completely ignore lack of results, shout down detractors Jon Kyl-style.

Now we simply know that during steps 1-4, he may not even know what he’s pushing for. This is further aided by the fact that he “couldn’t find any wasteful spending” in the stimulus bill. Hell, Mr. President, if you never read the thing, that’s going to be absolutely true.

This isn’t Hyde Park, where you just get people race-baited into a frenzy, waste millions in aid, and no one has any questions for you. Its the entire country, where you are held accountable (at long last). Everyone’s health is at stake here and you showed up to a meeting about a bill without command of WHAT IS IN THE FUCKING BILL AT HAND.

Dude did show up at G-8 without any ability to talk about the meeting he was about to go into, though, so maybe we should be ready for this kind of thing.

Actually, just the Mayo Clinic.

Quoted, in full:

Although there are some positive provisions in the current House Tri-Committee bill – including insurance for all and payment reform demonstration projects – the proposed legislation misses the opportunity to help create higher-quality, more affordable health care for patients. In fact, it will do the opposite.

In general, the proposals under discussion are not patient focused or results oriented. Lawmakers have failed to use a fundamental lever – a change in Medicare payment policy – to help drive necessary improvements in American health care. Unless legislators create payment systems that pay for good patient results at reasonable costs, the promise of transformation in American health care will wither. The real losers will be the citizens of the United States.

This is further evidence that Health Care Reform, such as the Left wants it, is more about feeling fuzzy that poor people have insurance than it is about improving health care in this nation. Additionally, this on the heels of the CBO assertions that Obama’s plan will be much more expensive than Big O says, and crumbling popular support (my previous post) for the bill/reform points down the path to ruin for Obamacare.

If you think the GOP was going to stand athwart the White House before support eroded for this hellish legislation, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

As the stimulus lingers on without making a substantial impact, jobs vanish into thin air at a catastrophic rate, and our government tries to cram a huge tax down our collective throats, it seems the public isn’t reacting very well.

Let’s take a look at the tape:

Asked what effect a government-managed health care coverage option would have on access to health services, 40 percent said it would make the situation worse, 38 percent said it would make it better and 22 percent said it would remain the same.

There’s a turnabout from what I’ve been breathlessly told so many times by friends of socialized medicine. If this poll is to be taken at face value, that’s a horrible sign for Obama and Co. Looks like the beginning of a pretty sound rejection of a central tenet of the One’s agenda.

Asked if their taxes would increase or decrease under Obama’s watch, 63 percent said their taxes will be higher, and only 9 percent said their tax burden will decrease. In March, 54 percent thought their taxes would be higher, compared with 17 percent who believed their taxes would go down.

Isn’t this interesting? The American public strongly believes that Obama will directly violate his campaign promise to not raise taxes on 95% of the nation. This is not a healthy beginning of a trusting relationship. (Of course, the number should be 100%, since cap-and-trade is simply an energy tax in a pork dress.)

Just as Obama intensifies his efforts to fulfill a campaign promise and reach an agreement with Congress on health care reform, the number of Americans who say they trust the president has fallen from 66 percent to 54 percent. At the same time, the percentage of those who say they do not trust the president has jumped from 31 to 42.

Oh, here it is. I see it so clearly now. As your fathers no doubt told you when you were little, trust is the cornerstone of every relationship in the world. As the bottom falls out ‘neath our Poet-King President, lets hope his winning smile and hollow promises can cushion the impact.