Here We Go!

Carnac predicts:

1. Much slicing and dicing of the healthcare legislation in the “reconciliation” process.
2. Constitutional challenge to the participation mandate contained in the legislation (assuming it survives reconciliation)
3. A massive purging of the Senate and House in the mid-terms
4. A single term for Obama.

None of this has to do with my personal feelings on the legislation itself, it’s how I’m reading the public reaction.

Just as ‘W’ insured the election of anything that the Dems nominated, through his short-sighted strong-arm tactics, Ms. Pelosi has just returned the favor and given the GOP an early gift.

 As my Razorback, Yalie, Pinko Kalifornia brother pointed out – FDR didn’t get accolades in his time, he was often accused of being a Commie.  The negative perception of health care reform (does it have an official name that is less than 20 words long?) on top of the struggle for positive spin over the past year means that Obama will get covered up by the fallout.  Everyone who is not in lock-step with the administration now has fodder to carry them well past the mid-terms.  The mid-term fallout will overshadow the beginning of the 2012 Presidential campaign season and Obama will be fighting an uphill battle to clinch a second term.

As usual, the public reaction is unfettered backlash that is lacking in thoughtful examination of the reality of the proposed program.  A monumental amount of work has gone in to the legislation, and anything this large and complex is going to have warts and blemishes.  Along with the rough spots there are some sections that give much-needed relief to people with genetic diseases. 

We’re on the brink of a system that will allow people, regardless of their genetic predisposition for (pick a disease) to be screened at an earlier stage without fear of jeopardizing their future health care coverage.  How many lives will we save or improve from this single aspect of the program?

At first glance my biggest problems with the plan are:

1. Mandatory participation
2. Any involvement of the IRS in the enforcement of participation

The IRS is marginally competent (at best) at managing our tax system, they need to stay far away from our health care system or we’ll all be signing up for the death squads to put us out of our misery.

The last election gave the Dems the opportunity to bring things to the center and hold power for at least 2-3 Presidential terms, but by all accounts they have replicated the failings of the GOP and overestimated their popularity, ultimately to their own detriment. Term limits, anyone?

Common sense is certainly dead within the halls of Congress – time for that change that Obama promised….