What started out as Barrack Obama’s mission to be the first president in 50 years to pass real health care reform, has turned into the epitome of dysfunctional government.
Republicans have made it their mission to move in any direction, as long as it’s sideways or backward. The Democrats have been consistent, but mostly in their inconsistency. First they assured everyone –come hell or high water, that there would be a public option so consumers could have the capitalistic privilege of choice and competition. That concept has come, gone, returned in a modified form as an expansion of Medicare, then eliminated completely.
Joe Lieberman (I-CT) who has been the cheerleader of the filibuster, has changed his party (formerly D-CT) and his mind on health care, enough times to make you sea sick on dry land. For years he has been in favor of it. Then he was against it. Now he wants to move forward and bring the bill to a vote.
Retired New York baby boomer, Virginia Russo said, “It’s disgusting. They are all acting like spoiled brats.” She insisted strongly that Congress has turned the possibility for positive legislation into a political game full of pandering, lying, selfish maneuvering and unnecessary delay. “We’ll all be dead by the time this becomes law,” she added.
There are some 30 million baby boomers pushing toward their Medicare years. Yet, the former hippies and Vietnam War protesters are not as easy-going as the generation that preceded them. There are millions of “Virginia’s” out there who are angry and frustrated about the progress, or lack thereof, of health care reform.
Democratic strategist and former Clinton Administration advisor, George Stephanopoulos believes health care reform has turned into a debate on abortion and who pays for it.
With the exception of a handful of defenders of the status quo, most agree that our health care system needs fixing. It’s expensive, complicated and inefficient. Moreover, it is inaccessible to some 40 million Americans.
Before his death, Senator Ted Kennedy said that providing quality health care to all Americans was a moral issue. The way Congress has handled this debate can be called many things. Moral is not one of them.
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