TheNextReport

Privilege Vs. Right Kept pointing to their prop -- the stck of paper admission: we, your leaders lack the intellectual capacity to understand complex legislation The GOP leaders at today's health care summit kept repeating that they had philosophical differences with the Democrats, namely they don't believe in government regulating the health care industry. Does anyone remember what has happened in the United States recently? The economy of the country was nearly crushed, millions of jobs and homes lost; our standard of living sustained damage that will take years to recover, all because of inadequate government regulation of private industry. Why anyone should accept including the GOP and its disproven "philosophy" as part of our political discourse is completely beyond me. Why doesn't the White House explain this simple idea to the country?

Statesman or Warrior First they gave away single payer without an argument; then they gave away expanding the eligibility age for Medicare; then they gave away the Public Option to get a 60 vote majority in the Senate that evaporated. President Obama couldn't be going into the health care summit if he wasn't prepared to give away more. The question is: how much should our president be willing to sacrifice in useless negotiations with an opposition that has proven itself to be entirely ignorant and corrupt, one that has clearly demonstrated its disdain for representative democracy? The wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry known as the Republican Party should have no voice in deciding what everyone knows is the most profound public issue of our time. President Obama has made clear that the Public Option, a component of health care reform that he endorsed as an intrinsic part of his policy, won't be on the table at tomorrow's summit, in spite of the fact that ...

National Anthem While American citizens still wait for their government to pass health care reform, a report was released that Anthem Blue Cross Insurance, the largest health insurer in California, plans to raise its premiums 39%. It may be tempting to both curse and cheer the odd logic displayed by Anthem's executives in making such a dastardly announcement at such a crucial time in the health reform debate. While we must excoriate the executives who made this decision, it nevertheless proves better than volumes of policy speeches the sad evil of private corporate healthcare. President Obama, the AMA, AARP and scores of reform advocates have struggled for over a year to explain reform proposals to Americans who still can't seem to figure out that universal health care is in their interest. Progressives have watched as weak-kneed presidential leadership, GOP stone-walling, and opposition from conservative democrats have succeeded in strangling legislation. The Anthem board and...

A Statesman Stands Up Just when I was about to lose all confidence in President Obama for his tame demeanor before the GOP, just when we thought his base was about to abandon him for not fighting more aggressively on health care, he goes off and proves again that he is one of the most skilled politicians to ever hold the office. The encounter with Republican leaders at their retreat in Baltimore was an uncanny bit of impromptu political theater where the President boldly confronted political opponents who have demonstrated their ideological mindlessness and disdain for the current occupant of the White House. Clearly expecting to use the opportunity to sand-bag Obama with ideologically charged set-up questions, GOP leaders found the tables adroitly turned by the president who swiftly and easily showed himself to be not only a master of the issues, but surprisingly skilled in the art of political gamesmanship as well. Mr. Obama had been broadly criticized by progressives for his continu...

Saddle-up Your Pickups, Boys or You're in Good Hands with Joe the Plumber It's amazing that the Democratic Party and the White House haven't yet been able to figure it out. The GOP has once again managed to out-smart it's Democratic rivals by relying on the dim-witted, Pavlovian responses of the electorate in a key state. Scott Brown, the newly elected Senator from the blue state of Massachusetts, has apparently raised the location of the Mason-Dixon line up to the suburbs of Boston. Is it that hard to figure out that, given the opportunity, American voters, no matter where they reside, will fall for any semi-charismatic figure who rides into town in a pickup truck, sings praises of the local sports franchise and carries a firearm? Such is the sophistication of American politics, the land of the free and the homer of Joe the Plumber. The mandarins of the Democratic Party in Mass have been left scratching their heads. How could it have happened? The voters just one year ...

Health Care Reform Lite.... or Suicide is Painless "I will not carry a gun, Frank. When I got into this war I had a very clear understanding with the Pentagon. No guns. I'll carry your books, I'll carry a torch, I'll carry a tune, I'll carry on, Cary Grant, carry me back to old Virginie, I'll even hari-kari if you show me how, but I will not carry a gun!"... Hawkeye Pierce As the 2010 Congress is poised to pass a watered-down health care bill painfully similar to the legislation green-lighted by the Senate, advocates for more extensive reform are beginning to see the handwriting on the wall. With comments trickling out from the House leadership that it now could envision voting for a bill that does not contain a public option, it would appear that the support for the House's more progressive initial bill may be taking its last breaths. I can understand the argument, now seemingly supported by the majority, that given the likelihood of more Democratic s...

Health Care Blackmail: Merry Christmas America After months of internal struggles, the Democratic caucus in the US Senate has passed its version of health care reform. Announcing he had at last marshaled the 60 Democratic votes necessary to shut down a Republican filibuster, majority leader Harry Reid set up a Christmas eve vote that will effectively surrender many of the key reforms supported by the progressive wing of the Democrats. After having promised during the initial phases of the health care debate that he would not sign a bill that lacked an optional public health care alternative to compete with private insurance, President Obama, along with several key progressive Democrats, have bent over backwards to insure the continued health of the private insurance model of health care delivery. In the end, the administration and Congressional allies were willing to shelve truly systemic reform in order to appease two Democratic conservatives (Joe Lieberman (ID-CN) and Ben Nelson (D-N...