First of all, still no baby. We've got an appointment set up for Friday to induce if she doesn't come before then, so at least there's an end in sight. We're still hoping that she comes on her own in the next 48 hours though. Since we've started telling people about the Friday plan, it seems as though everyone has an opinion on inducement. Let me put this as delicately as I can. Your opinion is valid, but we don't wish to hear it.
Today Max Baucus unveiled a summary of his health care bill. It's the most moderate of the current bills and carries with it an estimated price tag of $856 billion over the next ten years. It has no "public option" but would create insurance exchanges and bar insurers from dropping policyholders in the event of illness or from excluding people on the basis of pre-existing conditions. It specifically addresses that it will not provide coverage to illegal immigrants and no federal dollars will be used for abortions (though there are a couple caveats to this that will surely be more than enough ammo for the extremists to continue to rage). I'll reserve final judgment until the complete bill is released and analysed but my initial impression is that it addresses most of what Obama wanted and represents a step in the right direction. I'm firmly convinced that if a bill is to be passed this year that this will be the one. The more progressive bills from the House just don't have a chance in the Senate.
Tangentially related, former President Carter has made some comments indicating that he believes racism played a part in Rep Wilson's outburst-heard-round-the-world last week. While I don't necessarily disagree with him, I think it's counterproductive to talk about it right now. Playing the race card in any form just causes people to dig in their heels. It's not conducive to reconciliation. That comment, like the original outburst itself, just serves as a distraction which quickly dominates the debate. Suddenly we're talking about race relations in America. That's a worthy topic but not one that has any place in a health care debate, and it's going to take immense focus to get something done in the next couple months.
Finally, I've been following the debacle that has been the Afghanistan elections and I'm beginning to think along the same lines as George Will. It might be time to start packing it in. I understand that if we leave the Taliban will just set up shop again and it will once again become a training ground for terrorists. I'm starting to think that's the "better" of our options though. Mainly, I just don't think anyone has the stomach to do what really needs to be done: a probable decade-long commitment from an international force totalling half a million or more troops. After our surge, we'll have a total of 65,000 troops there. That may sound like a lot (and it is) but think about it this way: the football stadium in Champaign holds 70,000 people. Do you really think a football-stadium worth of troops can control a country the size of Texas? And these "elections" have proven to basically be the final straw with me. It's obvious that those in power have no desire to establish a flourishing democracy; they (like all bad leaders) just want to cling to power. So now we are spilling our blood and spending our money to support an illegitimate government while achieving little more than forcing the Taliban and the terrorists to move their camps across the border into Pakistan. I just don't know what we're actually accomplishing anymore.
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5 comments:
The Obama administration has the terrible habit of perpetuation process stories, and the Carter thing is just one big example.
I think race certainly has a place in the health care discussion, just not in its current incarnation. If people are talking about percentages of minorities disproportionately effected by no health insurance, it is a valid talking point. But you want a race issue?
People from the South are easily deceived. And racist. And stupid.
Oh yeah, I also forgot to say good luck in the next few days.
Weir, what do you mean by "perpetuation process stories"? Sorry, I just... I'm not able to get what that phrase means.
Becky, he means that they comment on a story and even though they may not say anything inflammatory just the fact that they commented on it gives the story additional legs and makes it gain far more prominence than it probably would have gotten otherwise. A very good example being the Harvard professor getting arrested.
John, don't you have better things to do this morning?
But he's right (and I mixed tenses, I meant to write *perpetuating*)
Specifically on Health Care, the "You Lie!" thing. It has been talked about for days and days, Congress reprimanded him, blah blah blah... but what has been lost is all the talk about health care that the speech was supposed to bring up.
The White House needed to lock the story down and spin back to health care (and certainly needed to tell the dems that it is a waste of 5 days to reprimand him officially.)
Then there is the Obama/Kanye story which, while it didn't have great legs, took time away.
A process story is anything about the *process* and not about the issue.
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