So What Do We Do Now?

The confidence with which President Obama announced his intention to overhaul our health industry has been replaced with desperation to pass—in the words of presidential minder David Axelrod—"something, anything."

The President doesn't really care what the Democrats in Congress eventually decide to do. I'm sure he'd like it to be as close to his long-envisioned Trojan horse for single payer as possible. But if it's not possible, all he really wants to do is to sign his name to a bill with the words "Health", "America", and "Choice" in it.

It's his legacy. I'm serious. You didn't really think that a man who would write a personal memoir at age 34—before he had accomplished anything noteworthy—would wait around until the end of his term to start working on his legacy, did you?

Obama is the Narcissist-in-Chief. He won't be satisfied unless he's left an indelible mark on American life. He had hoped that would include unrestrained Leftist dismantling and reorganization of our economy, foreign relations, and social structure. But now he's willing to settle for smaller victories if that's all Congress can tee up for him.

And make no mistake. The Democratic Congress can still pass a bill that will cripple our health care system and Obama will happily sign that bill. A wild animal is never so vicious as when it is cornered and we have backed the Obama Administration into a corner on healthcare.

I suspect that this is a more dangerous time than July, when the President was trying to rush through a healthcare bill. Then he wasn't even considering compromising with fractious Democrats because he didn't contemplate they'd be a problem. But now he's probably willing to give massive concessions—beg, borrow, and steal—to get his healthcare bill.

So what do we do? Keep talking. Talk to your neighbors about it; talk to your friends; and, especially, talk to seniors. Obama is on the run because people are actually interested in what he's trying to do and they're actually trying to learn more about it. Building frustration with obstructionist legacy media has folks not normally plugged into alternative media like radio or blogs or— well, Glenn Beck's show are looking for answers.

And you guys can give them answers. I guarantee you that you guys know as much or more about the situation in Washington, D.C. than anyone who is getting their news from the papers or the nightly news programs. Tell people what you know!

The more people know about Obamacare, the more people don't like it. Which means that even if Congress manages to scrape together a bill and even when the President signs it, he and the Democrats in Congress will all have black eyes and bloody noses. Even if he passes healthcare reform, the President may take a wound that never heals and 2012 is just around the corner.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 09:33 AM

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