Warner Todd Huston
Obama dissembles again about his 'responsibility' for healthcare
By Warner Todd Huston
In a new 60 Minutes interview, President Obama made a big show about telling correspondent Steve Kroft that he "owns" healthcare if it goes wrong and that because of this he has "every incentive to get this right."
But is this true? Will Obama face any real, personal consequences for any possible failures of Obamacare if it gets passed? I would say he doesn't.
In the interview, Obama sonorously tells Kroft,
He'll be held to no culpability, at least none that will affect his future. If the abomination of Obamacare gets passed, the real pain of it won't be felt for at least 10 years. And by that time, Obama will be long out of the White House and completely clear of any real personal consequences for his actions.
First of all, little of Obamacare will take effect until 2013. By then he will have started his second term so the mess of Obamacare will not cost him an election. After his second term starts it will be quite some time before any major problems with the plan will become manifest, say at least two or three more years. By that time his presidency will be about finished and he can ride off into the sunset with much of the mess yet unrealized by the people.
In reality, if Obamacare is passed he will ride a wave of success for several years as a result with the trouble that the policies will cause pushed far enough into the future that his political career will be fairly untouched by the failures that Obamacare will cause.
And let us look at what Obamacare will achieve. We all know that this has nothing whatever to do with anyone's heath. Well, maybe there is some health being considered here: the "health" of the Democratic Party. After all, if Obamacare is passed this massive take over of one sixth of our economy will cause the national debate to be fought in the arena of big government for generations to come.
If big government Obamacare is passed we will have no opportunity at all to debate small government issues for a long, long time hence. The government will have made the most massive leap in growth in history and the result will be that all future debates will be over big government issues. We have a model for this in FDR's New Deal. It was more than 50 years before small government was again part of the national debate.
We will never again be able to vote politicians into office that will pledge to limit government. We will be lucky to find politicians that can at best try to keep future wild growth a little smaller than the outright socialists of Obama's bent will attempt.
But wait, you might say. Wouldn't Obama's legacy be tarnished if Obamacare is passed and becomes a debacle? Isn't the president right to say he has "every incentive" to get it right?
Nope. We have but to look at the career of the worst president in the 20th century, Jimmy Carter, to see that his utter failures didn't cause a single personal cost to his life. He still has the slavish devotion of Democrats and is hailed by dictators around the world as a swell guy. His bank account hasn't been harmed, either. He has lived the high life despite the utter mess he made of this country during and following his failed presidency. Carter faced no personal consequences except to have lost his second term — small potatoes, indeed.
Then we can review Bill Clinton's lavish lifestyle since his embarrassing presidency. He has similarly faced no personal consequences for his failures. He has fattened his bank account by millions upon millions of dollars and is vetted by Kings Queens, the Illiterati and the famous everywhere he goes. Clinton has faced no personal consequences for his failures.
And Obama? He'll face even fewer consequences than either Carter or Clinton. On the other hand he'll have set up the success of socialist ideology for generations to come. His personal goals of dampening capitalism and re-ordering the American character toward a Euro-centric social democracy will have been completed. He will have ended the United States of America as it has been and will have re-made it in his socialist image.
So, this whole business that he has "every incentive" to get this right is simply just another one of Obama's lies. He has no reason whatever not to go for his desired socialist goals. There will be no personal consequences at all if he wins or loses.
(Cross posted at HealthcareHorseRace.com.)
© Warner Todd Huston
September 15, 2009
In a new 60 Minutes interview, President Obama made a big show about telling correspondent Steve Kroft that he "owns" healthcare if it goes wrong and that because of this he has "every incentive to get this right."
But is this true? Will Obama face any real, personal consequences for any possible failures of Obamacare if it gets passed? I would say he doesn't.
In the interview, Obama sonorously tells Kroft,
-
"I have no interest in having a bill get passed that fails. That doesn't work. You know, I intend to be president for a while and once this bill passes, I own it. And if people look and say, 'You know what? This hasn't reduced my costs. My premiums are still going up 25 percent, insurance companies are still jerking me around,'" Obama explained.
"I'm the one who's going to be held responsible. So I have every incentive to get this right," he added.
He'll be held to no culpability, at least none that will affect his future. If the abomination of Obamacare gets passed, the real pain of it won't be felt for at least 10 years. And by that time, Obama will be long out of the White House and completely clear of any real personal consequences for his actions.
First of all, little of Obamacare will take effect until 2013. By then he will have started his second term so the mess of Obamacare will not cost him an election. After his second term starts it will be quite some time before any major problems with the plan will become manifest, say at least two or three more years. By that time his presidency will be about finished and he can ride off into the sunset with much of the mess yet unrealized by the people.
In reality, if Obamacare is passed he will ride a wave of success for several years as a result with the trouble that the policies will cause pushed far enough into the future that his political career will be fairly untouched by the failures that Obamacare will cause.
And let us look at what Obamacare will achieve. We all know that this has nothing whatever to do with anyone's heath. Well, maybe there is some health being considered here: the "health" of the Democratic Party. After all, if Obamacare is passed this massive take over of one sixth of our economy will cause the national debate to be fought in the arena of big government for generations to come.
If big government Obamacare is passed we will have no opportunity at all to debate small government issues for a long, long time hence. The government will have made the most massive leap in growth in history and the result will be that all future debates will be over big government issues. We have a model for this in FDR's New Deal. It was more than 50 years before small government was again part of the national debate.
We will never again be able to vote politicians into office that will pledge to limit government. We will be lucky to find politicians that can at best try to keep future wild growth a little smaller than the outright socialists of Obama's bent will attempt.
But wait, you might say. Wouldn't Obama's legacy be tarnished if Obamacare is passed and becomes a debacle? Isn't the president right to say he has "every incentive" to get it right?
Nope. We have but to look at the career of the worst president in the 20th century, Jimmy Carter, to see that his utter failures didn't cause a single personal cost to his life. He still has the slavish devotion of Democrats and is hailed by dictators around the world as a swell guy. His bank account hasn't been harmed, either. He has lived the high life despite the utter mess he made of this country during and following his failed presidency. Carter faced no personal consequences except to have lost his second term — small potatoes, indeed.
Then we can review Bill Clinton's lavish lifestyle since his embarrassing presidency. He has similarly faced no personal consequences for his failures. He has fattened his bank account by millions upon millions of dollars and is vetted by Kings Queens, the Illiterati and the famous everywhere he goes. Clinton has faced no personal consequences for his failures.
And Obama? He'll face even fewer consequences than either Carter or Clinton. On the other hand he'll have set up the success of socialist ideology for generations to come. His personal goals of dampening capitalism and re-ordering the American character toward a Euro-centric social democracy will have been completed. He will have ended the United States of America as it has been and will have re-made it in his socialist image.
So, this whole business that he has "every incentive" to get this right is simply just another one of Obama's lies. He has no reason whatever not to go for his desired socialist goals. There will be no personal consequences at all if he wins or loses.
(Cross posted at HealthcareHorseRace.com.)
© Warner Todd Huston
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