Opinion> Roger Simon> Obama Things Stink

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Obama: Things stink

Barack Obama has seen the present, and it doesn't work.

In the present, we all go broke. In the present, our health care "premiums and out-of-pocket costs will continue to skyrocket."

In the present, "if we don't act, 14,000 Americans will continue to lose their health insurance every single day. These are the consequences of inaction. These are the stakes of the debate that we're having right now."

So said Obama Wednesday night in a news conference. And make no mistake, the present stinks because the past stank.

In the past, a (unidentified) Republican administration left Obama and the nation with a "$1.3 trillion annual deficit" as kind of an inheritance tax. And now Obama must deal with it.

How will he do this while at the same time providing 97 to 98 percent of the American people with state-of-the-art, affordable health care that they can never lose even if they lose their jobs or get sick?

He will do this by eliminating waste, fraud and abuse in the health care system. He will do this by making health care more efficient.

That's the future. The future is really going to be sweet. And we're not even going to have to wait that long for it.

"We will pass reform that lowers cost, promotes choice and provides coverage that every American can count on," Obama said. "And we will do it this year."

Obama understands that upon hearing this, some of you may grow "anxious" or "skeptical" or "cynical." He even understands that you might feel "queasy."

Fight those feelings. And fight the impression that every president promises to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse and yet those things remain with us.

President Obama promises something else: He will soak the rich.

Getting rid of waste, fraud and abuse will pay only for two-thirds of his health care plan. The remaining third will be paid for by limiting "the itemized deductions for the wealthiest Americans."

What about the "s" word? What about "sacrifice" for the rest of us? Happily, the future contains no such need.

Jake Tapper of ABC News specifically asked Obama about sacrifice and whether ordinary Americans will have to "give up some things" in order to enjoy the enormous benefits Obama is promising.

"They will have to give up paying for things that don't make them healthier," Obama said. "If there is a blue pill and a red pill and the blue pill is half the price and works just as well right now, why not pay half price?"

Why not indeed? And so all we have to do is find a whole lot of blue pills.

But don't worry, we will. And they won't cost much. "We inherited an enormous deficit," Obama said. But "health care reform will not add to the deficit; it is designed to lower it."

And as it is designed, so it shall be. Because that is the way of Washington, isn't it?

I admit that the promise of enormous benefits at little or no cost — the deficit will actually shrink! — makes me a little "anxious," "skeptical," "cynical" and "queasy." Perhaps it makes you feel the same way.

But what choice do we have? The past is a mess. The present stinks. And the future?

Well, if there is one political promise you can believe, it is this one: Our future is ahead of us.

Feel better?

To find out more about Roger Simon, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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All of B. Hussein Obama's policies are failures. The economy is worst, he took a $400 billion deficit from the Bush administration and expanded it to $1.8 trillion, he nationalized cars companies and banks, and now he wants to control another part of the economy, namely health care. With control of health care the radical socialist can control every aspect of American's lives. The federal government mismanages every thing it touches and it will trash health care. In fact socialized medicine is so onerous congress and the president (dictator) will be excluded from this horror show. Just look at how well the federal government has run Medicare and Social Security. Both are hemorrhaging red ink due to mismanagement, fraud, and waist.
Put down your Kool-Aid for a moment and read the health care bills. How about the following:
illegal aliens will get health care insurance (create a new voting block for Democrats)
every one will be forced to prove to the IRS that they have health insurance or face a huge fine (so long freedom of choice)
seniors will receive end of life counseling
abortions will be covered and health care for seniors will be rationed (kill unborn babies and seniors)
any one who loses their health insurance will be forced into the government plan (further destroy capitalism by putting insurance companies out of business)
an unwieldy bureaucracy will be crested to manage this fiasco. This includes departments of civil rights and minorities. (continue empathy which is "liberal speak" for reverse discrimination - it started under LBJ and the Great Society)
Wake up and admit that B. Hussein Obama is destroying capitalism, waging war on prosperity, and transforming the country into a fascist society. He is implementing the anti American agenda that he learned from his terrorist, Marxist, and racist mentors.

Comment: #1
Posted by: PF
Sun Jul 26, 2009 7:01 AM