Health Care in the New Year

By on January 6, 2012

Mitt Romney, winner by eight votes in the Iowa Cornfest, slowed down only to change his hair oil and sped on to New Hampshire with runner-up Rick Santorum not far behind. Conservatives seem out to knee-cap Romney if possible. They are sounding desperate. Why?

Romney was the one establishment-vetted figure in the race this year. He got a handful of votes more than in the 2008 Iowan husking. This 25% margin means 75% of the party wants someone else.  And four years later he’s a candidate with a name recognition rivaling Preparation H. Pundits blame that predicament on persistent right-left positioning arguments. They miss that Mitt continued to look uncomfortable in his own skin during his election night statement in a way that does not turn the voters on. And, reciting the lyrics to old patriotic songs went out as a stump strategy with William Jennings Bryan. If this many Republicans find him uninspiring, how do the GOP masterminds think he is going to attract Independent and disaffected Democratic voters come November? Someone’s brain is in the sleep mode up at party headquarters.

Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry fight on, though their causes seem lost. Newt, in particular, seems out for revenge. Does anyone remember how disliked Romney was by his opponents in 2008? Why would this have changed in four years? Perry seems out for the VP slot.

The one thing that unites all contestants is their desire to repeal ‘Obama-care.’ Santorum calls it socialized medicine. That’s a charge that has potato eyes on it. He apparently likes socialized medicine if you call it Medicare and privatize it. He’s covered. So why should he worry about you?

This state of affairs alone should be enough to depress the voters. In California and Pennsylvania accelerations of the Reform Act coverage policies have put over 10,000 people into insurance cooperatives. That’s good. Raising the dependent coverage age to 26 is an obvious winner. A California report for the new year cites higher health care costs and more working Americans without benefits. This is not a winning trend. So why do the Republicans think they can ride to victory trashing Obama-care?

And let’s stop for a moment of truth here. Other than demanding something on his desk covering health care reform, President Obama had little to do with the details of the Act. He might have told Congress the broad outlines of what he wanted, but he did not. He left it up to Reid and Pelosi and Hoyer to navigate something through Congress. If he had led more courageously here, he might have ended up with a better product. Determined not to repeat the Clinton’s mistakes on health care reform, Obama over-corrected and undersold, not providing the leadership he might have.

Now the Republicans are up in New England arguing about gay marriage and what constitutes real lobbying. Health care is still a thumbs up-thumbs down one-liner. Lobsters will replace corn on the fund-raising fires. Then it is on to South Carolina where it will be hush puppies all around and ‘shut-my-mouth sugar’ on the key issues facing the American people.

The voters are getting mighty hungry for the main course. When will it be served up?

About Tom Godfrey

4 comments on “Health Care in the New Year

  1. Felton Ehl on said:

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  2. Lilliana Doil on said:

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    • TGodfrey on said:

      Thank you for your input. I appreciated the kind feedback. I posted a new piece this morning. I hope you will give it a look. Tom

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