National Health?

I have no real preference about how the great health care debate should come out nor would I make a prediction. It is hard to accept that the cost of subsidized health care for all is sustainable. On the other hand, the money GW Bush threw away on stupid wars and complete crap makes health care an attractive alternative, as long as we're going to throw obscene amounts of money away.

The wing nuts don't believe that Barry O can get enough support to pass a National health insurance program. I'm not so sure. He can count on the support of big swatches of Democratic urban America, no matter what he does, he's their boy. Mid Western and Western Blue Dog politicians might not want to pass a National Health Care bill. Watch out though. Large segments of the West, Mid West and South, even those places where Social Conservatives hold sway, contain large populations of White, marginally educated, working class voters, slightly too affluent for Medicaid, whose families survive with little in the way of a financial safety net and are chronically without health insurance. Catholic voters across America may dsagree on the right to abortion and contraception, most may not agree with the Pope on these issues but they can all agree with the Pope on the idea of socialized medicine. He loves it. This may be an issue all Catholics can vote together on. Many people, who may even be Social Conservatives and heretofore antagonistic to the Obama Presidency, might be very interested in supporting National health care.

If a National health plan gets passed, Obama will become very popular with the people whom it benefits and those people cut across party, racial and religious boundaries. Those people might start voting for him. It's not going to matter if he's a big black, illegal alien, Islamic terrorist, Commie Quisling from Kenya, if his wife looks like a gorilla and likes to amuse his little daughters by making monkey noises, if his 11 year old daughter is a street whore or anything else Republican flacks can make up and spread around in public. I think Barry understands that. I think the Republicans do too. National health care could be the key to the 2010 and 2012 elections. Another thing to remember, even if Barry puts everything on the line for health care and fails to get it, he loses nothing and may gain a lot. Nobody ever held it against Bill and Hilary when they failed to enact a National health care program, early in Bill's first term. A lot of people, especially white people of modest means and limited expectations, in the South and Mid West, were grateful to them for trying and supported Bill because of it, for a second term. Hilary benefited from having been a champion of National Health later in her Senate career and nearly successful run for the Presidential nomination.