Howard Dean Triple Dog Dares Barack Obama To Compromise On Health Care

Anyone who has been a regular reader of this blog knows that I am a staunch free market, less government, let me keep the money I earn kind of guy.  Some might call that right wing.  Some might call it selfish.  I call it taking responsibility for my own welfare.

And I, like many of my friends who float left and right of center, am somewhat confused by what is going on in Washington.  Well, even more so than usual.

We have a Democratic president that spent much of his campaign promising to basically turn the United States tax system into a pot luck dinner where everyone gets to eat steak, whether or not they even brought a side dish. I particularly remember an interview with a young woman at one of his campaign rallies.  She was emotional and clearly caught up in the magic that was the pre-election Obama Experience.  Much like the films I’ve seen of the old Beatles concerts where women were passing out in their seats.

Anyway, when asked what she had learned from Obama’s speech, she replied to the effect that once Obama was elected, she was finally going to be taken care of.  She actually made the statement “Barack is going to pay my mortgage”.  Clearly she was just one of many that expected an Obama presidency to bring riches to the masses.

Here’s why I am somewhat confused.  President Obama’s words and actions in these first 100 days or so tend to make me think he’s either  much more of a moderate than we thought, or even the unified power of a Democratic Congress and Democratic President can’t bring about the radical changes they were promising right up til Election Day.

For example, Howard Dean, after being passed over for the top job at Health and Human Services, has decided to take his health care vision to the masses in the form of a new web site: StandWithDrDean.com

Howard Dean flies pretty left of center and has for years been a strong proponent of a public - i.e. “universal” - health care system.  He was a staunch supporter of President Obama and his plan for making public health care a priority for his first year in office.

Now Dean is concerned that Obama may compromise on the proposed health care package that the Executive office put together. Any compromise would likely eliminate or water down the provisions establishing a government sponsored health care system for the American public. Dean has established a grass roots organization via his StandByDrDean web site to garner support for the health reform package as originally outlined in the Obama-Biden Plan.

Obama seems prepared to accept the fact that the government sponsored public health plan pieces of his proposal will never pass through even a Democratically controlled Congress. At least not in its current form. Dean has drawn a line in the sand by stating that reform is not reform unless all Americans are provided economical access to health care.

Personally I’m somewhat surprised that Obama has not been trying to push his original vision for a public health care system through. He seemingly could be using the public and their current-but-fading love-all-things-Barack to be putting pressure on Congress to pass the proposal. Instead he appears to be willing to compromise without much of a fight.

Savvy politician?  Or just in over his head.

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