Chess or Checkers?

I am perplexed how Obama’ the health care reform is shaping up. Something which had over 70% public approval, sponsored by a highly popular President with his party controlling both the Senate and Congress, is in the brink of being a token reform. The prolonged and wasted effort to get some support from the Republicans, backroom deals with the Pharmacy industry, hints about giving up the 'public option' so early in the negotiation phase, etc. do not make any sense to me. Is there a hidden strategy behind all this, too sophisticated for MSM and the news analysts to see? I sure hope so. Otherwise, President Obama is going to let down millions like me, who voted for him believing his message of bringing change to Washington.

(I am sick of the gutless Democrats. But other option, supporting the corrupt Republicans, is even worse!)

Now I know why!

I was under the impression that the grey haired seniors I see on T.V. , disrupting the town hall meetings, are ‘dumb’ people who believe that there will be a ‘death panel’ which will cut their medical options. Now I realize that they have a much more serious and valid concern about the new healthcare plan. It is like this.
The fundamental goal of the present healthcare reform is to assure coverage for the nearly 44 million in USA, who do not have any health insurance now. If the plan gets passed, the government will end up picking most of these uninsured, as they cannot afford any of the private health insurance plans in the proposed ‘co-op’ market. This means that there will be a huge increase the number of recipients of government healthcare services (which now are Medicare and Medicaid). Where is the money for this is going to come from? According to President Obama, two thirds of the cost ($600 billion) will be met by removing the inefficiencies of the present healthcare system. This is a promise tough to beleive as the USA Government is not known for reducing costs, ever! So, what happens if this assumption is proven wrong, and there is not enough money for medical coverage? Possible action will be to reduce the services provided. This means that the seniors, who are in Medicare now, will have to brace for a deterioration of the services in the future. This is totally unacceptable to them as they do not want anything to disrupt their well set lives, dependent on Social Security and Medicare!

What is up with Hillary?

There is some buzz in MSM about the snappy answer Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave to a student who asked her what her husband Bill Clinton thought about an international event. Looks like poor Hillary is getting all the wrong headlines during her tour of the African nations, which was expected consolidate her credentials as a powerful Secretary of State. First, President Bill Clinton stole the headlines with his participation in the release of two American journalists from North Korea. Now this flash of temper is going to be the main story of her trip for at least the next two days (public loves it – it is much better than reading an analysis of African nations and their challenges!) To show such sensitivity in public, was a surprise slip-up for a seasoned politician like Hillary Clinton. What bothered me more was how she looked in the news feed. She looked disheveled and overweight in an ill-fitting light blue outfit. What happened to the smart and stylishly dressed Hillary we saw daily during the Presidential campaign days of 2008?