It’s getting close to Christmas and I’ll be spending a lot of time driving around in the next few days looking for “stuff” to put in the various stockings.  I keep telling myself that Christmas should be all about the birth of Jesus, but I always spend more time filling the stockings than thinking about what his birth meant to the world (both good and bad).  In this process (driving around) I’ll get a full ear of “talk” radio – mostly progressive (because I can’t stomach the other stuff for very long) – and I’m sure the debate will rage on regarding the impending health care legislation.  Today I heard impassioned pleas to just pass “anything” as a “start,” and hope that it will get “fixed” in the future.

Well, where have we heard that one before.  The memory of Barack Obama voting FOR FISA last year during the campaign is still FRESH in my mind.  I was very discouraged at that one and even wrote then Senator Obama an “impassioned” letter sharing my discontent with his decision.  As opposed to the letter I wrote this year regarding his (horrible) decision to “look forward” regarding the Bush/Cheney CRIMES, I got a response on his FISA position.  It was the same type of political pragmatism we’re seeing every step of the way so far in his administration.  He said (OK, I understand it was one of his surrogates responding – I don’t rate a direct response from Presidents) he would “fix” the legislation in his first year in office.  Well, I’m sure his explanation today as to why that hasn’t happened would be that the health care bill has taken up more time than anticipated.  The end result, in my mind, is that we are going to have to live with the watered down FISA legislation that is probably allowing Obama himself to continue the Bush wiretapping policies (I’ve yet to hear Obama address that issue directly – I fully believe they’re still “data mining” our phone conversations and emails).

So, we will be reassured this “flawed” health care legislation will get fixed.  I wish I could bring myself to believe that.  Maybe the Obama administration has some “secret” strategy in place to accomplish this – but, I’ll have to see it to believe it.  I realize that defeat of this legislation would be DISASTROUS to the President – and, I do want him to succeed, therefore, I guess it’s hold your nose and hope for the best.  If this backfires on Obama, the results will be far worse than the bill not passing.  My hope is that the progressives in the house make the same “stand” that Joe Lieberman made and make it clear that they won’t vote for the bill without the so-called “public option,” elimination of antitrust exemption for health insurance companies, and opportunities for a medicare buyin for those over 55.  This could be added to the bill (and some other parts stripped out) in the House/Senate conference and the bill could pass the senate on the final vote because it would only need 50 votes plus Vice President Biden.

Should the house do this and force a much better bill on both the Senate and the President, there could be a tremendous momemtum swing back toward President Obama and the Democrats.  The frustration is building across this nation as our congress muddles their way through this process unable to do the “will” of over 60% of the people, and I’m STILL PRAYING THAT I’VE GOT IT ALL WRONG.  I realize it’s not over yet -those of us who are turned off by what has transpired in the Senate – could be re-energized if the House progressive caucus comes through.  I believe they have to make it clear they’re NOT VOTING for the senate version of the bill to get this done.  The bottom line on this legislation is that the conservatives have succeeded (as usual) in turning the debate TOTALLY away from what would be best for this country – which would be a single payer health care system where EVERYONE was insured under a medicare for all like plan.  That would cover everyone and it would be A LOT LESS EXPENSIVE than what we presently have and there would be hope for all the Americans who are dying each year (estimates at 45,000/year) due to a lack of health insurance.  I know that between my mortgage and health insurance for my family I pay 60% of my gross income.  After taxes there “aint” much left over.

The House Democrats still have the opportunity to make President Obama look good on the health care legislation “strategy” – which was to take a passive role as Congress worked through the bill – but, I believe, this was a HUGE GAMBLE that didn’t need to happen.  I’m saying this from the point of view that if I have to live through another Bushlike experience with a Republican in the White House due to Democratic “stupidity” (that’s how Obama and his supporters are referring to the likes of me – stupid) – well, I just don’t know if I can handle that.  Even if the House “bails out” the President on this legislation the road ahead looks mighty “bumpy” to me – and AGRESSIVE LEADERSHIP will be required.  As I mentioned in my last post, THERE ARE A LOT OF GOOD AMERICANS OUT OF WORK!  And, many of them can’t even get interviews for new jobs.  THIS IS REALLY BAD!

Even if the health care bill somehow gets “saved,” and I want to make it clear that in my view the senate version is a DISASTER, the excitement will be short lived.  First of all, even under the best of scenario’s, the bill doesn’t take effect for several years – so the uninsured will remain uninsured, the underinsured will remain underinsured, the people being excluded for “pre-existing” conditions will continue being excluded, the rates will continue to skyrocket for the next few years, and the 45,000 people dying due to lack of coverage each year will continue dying.  Secondly and most importantly to millions of Americans – the HORRIBLE JOBS situation will hit the “center stage.”  Democrats will be right back on the “spot.”

They (Democrats) will have a short window to “stimulate” the so-called stimulus package which did a lot of good (more so in saving jobs than creating them from my understanding) but is falling further and further behind the enormous job losses of the past two years.  MAKE NO MISTAKE – the wounded economy and the TREMENDOUS JOB LOSSES are the result of the Bush administration’s FOLLY.  They were incapable of governing in virtually EVERY CATEGORY.  They bungled foreign policy by getting the US entrenched in two UNWINNABLE occupations (funded with credit cards) that seem endless and ruining our image around the world as the leader of the “free world.”  That should have been bad enough, but they bungled domestic policy from FEMA (Katrina), to the EPA, the Justice department, and – ultimately – the meltdown of the entire banking system and, therefore, the economy itself.  If the average American knew how many TRILLIONS of dollars were “pledged” to the large Wall Street banks to keep them “afloat” they would be even more outraged than they are.  Almost all of the responsibility for this lies at the feet of GW Bush and Dick Cheney.  However, to be fair, they’ve been gone for almost a year now, and the responsibility will be shifting Obama’s way – either in a good way – or bad – soon after the start of next year’s legislative session.

I’m very concerned whether or not President Obama’s pragmatic “centrist” approach to our problems will actually provide the “change we can believe in.”  When I voted for him I understood “change” to mean something “different.”  I wasn’t thinking different from Bush – I was thinking different from what’s transpired the past 30+ years.  And, yes – the health care legislation is a monumental task which is long overdue – it’s just that legislation for the sake of legislation, to me, isn’t necessarily the change I can believe in.  Yes, it’s change – but I’m really hoping the major change, regarding health care, isn’t taxpayers funding 30+ million more customers into the insurance companies that most Americans agree are the problem in the first place (come on House progressives, we need you NOW!).  If change is a return to the days of Bill Clinton, that is not what I expected – I would have voted for Hillary if I was in favor of that (remember it was during the Clinton years we got NAFTA, the telecommunications act, and the repeal of Glass Steagall – all major contributors to today’s problems).  Reminder: “real” unemployment (according to Robert Reich) exceeds 17% – near depression levels.

I was honestly expecting someone more in the line of FDR – someone who would directly challenge the “moneychangers,” someone who would implement drastic measures to combat the unemployment disaster left behind by George “Herbert Hoover” Bush, and someone who would re-regulate the banking system before Goldman Sachs et al got out of control again (check out the statistics on the derivatives trading by the FIVE REMAINING large Wall Street banks in the past year).  And, there’s no time to even talk about Iraq and Afganistan tonight – yes, Obama’s plate was full, but that’s even more reason to want dramatic action.  It’s true that the President can’t do anything without the Congress, but it’s also true that it’s not the Congress who should be taking the leadership role in solving the problems.  We are relying on the House to save the health care bill, it’s time for President Obama to take the lead on the unemployment problem!  Randi Rhodes might call me stupid, but I honestly believe if President Obama doesn’t get more “connected” to the people who voted him into office, we will not only fail to have the change we can believe in, the future of this nation will continue to be slipping in a downward direction.  And, please don’t misunderstand my criticism, I REALLY HOPE OBAMA SUCCEEDS!