Obama May Be Running A Xanatos Gambit

[Meshakhad]

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/04/03/obama-hints-that-repealing-obamacare-will-bring-universal-healthcare-to-america/

In a signal to the not only the GOP but the conservative sock puppets on the Supreme Court, President Obama flat-out said the alternative to Obamacare is the single payer system that the right dreads more than life itself:

    “There are basically two ways to cover people with preexisting conditions or assure that people can always get coverage even when they have bad illnesses,” said Obama. “One way is a single payer plan. Everybody is under a single system like Medicare. The other way is to set up the system in which you don’t have people who are healthy but don’t bother to get health insurance and then we all have to pay for them in the emergency room. That doesn’t work, and so as a consequence we’ve got to make sure that those folks are taking the responsibility seriously – which is what the individual mandate does.”


This can be taken two ways: The first is that Obama is bluffing. After taking office, Obama tackled, among a host of other serious problems, health care reform. He did not pursue the public option in any meaningful way, much to the anger of the left. It is entirely possible he will not do so this time, even if the ACA is repealed or crippled by the highly partisan conservative Supreme Court justices.

The second is that he is not bluffing at all. When Obama took office, the country was a mess. The world hated us, unemployment was skyrocketing, we were embroiled in two extremely unpopular wars and the economy was on the brink of a second Great depression. Since then, however, the economy is more stable than it has been in over a decade, we’ve ended one war with a clear course to ending the second, unemployment is steadily, if slowly, dropping and the United States is no longer a pariah. Despite what the right would have you believe, we are better off than we were four years ago. With that in mind and what looks to be a devastating victory in November for Democrats, who might not only retain a majority in the Senate but take back the House, a second Obama administration might easily have the political capital to expand Medicare to the point of universal coverage. Especially with the lessons learned over four years of GOP intransigence, the Democrats could tackle this in a far different manner that would limit Republican involvement.

By now, millions of people have benefited from even the limited version of Obamacare that is currently available and they certainly would take great offense to whatever political party were to take it away. It’s one thing to rail against “death panels” and “government takeover” when the law hasn’t had any tangible effects, it’s quite another to take away the protection that has kept you or a loved one safe and alive from the depredations of the insurance companies.

I think that if the right succeeds in repealing or crippling the Affordable Care Act, they will find a public that is unwilling to go back to the good old days of pre-existing conditions and rescession and that might just give Obama and the Democratic Party the room they need to finally bring the US into the twenty-first century.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/XanatosGambit

I want this to happen.

[nickiknack]

 I've heard a lot of this, I'll believe it when I see it. Also single-payer isn't the only option, there are examples of universal multi-payer systems in the world, like Germany.

[Rabbit of Caerbannog]

I doubt I'll see universal health care in this country in my lifetime. And I'm in my early 20s.

[Lt. Fred]

No chance. Obama is a competent Republican president and always will be. He will certainly never have the super majority needed to pass any policy.

[Distind]

To be fair, the only bit they can actually challenge is the forced purchase of insurance.

If that's gone, well, health care is hardly the only massive completely unfunded project the US pays for.

If forcing people to purchase private insurance is found unconstitutional(which it really should be), then the remaining options are largely things that unfuck the current plan to some extent.

This was all pretty much called around the time the easily challenged bit was tossed into the health care plan.

[Her3tiK]

I doubt I'll see universal health care in this country in my lifetime. And I'm in my early 20s.

What he said.

[nickiknack]

To be fair, the only bit they can actually challenge is the forced purchase of insurance.

I do believe that some States are bitching about the expansion of Medicaid, because we can't let poor people have healthcare.

[speshuled67]

i think the public option would be entirely acceptable to the majority of americans, but because of the absolute vitriol spouted by fox and the corporate news networks during the healthcare debates, people simply got confused. as for single payer, i dont want to emulate the canadian system at the present because americans as a whole are far unhealthier than the great white north. if we enact their system, it would be completely clogged like the average texan’s arteries for years.


an aside, i cannot wait for obama to unveil his general election strategy. i hope he just sits back and plays clips of the crazy shit the right has said for the past 3 years and just let that stand for itself.

[Distind]

To be fair, the only bit they can actually challenge is the forced purchase of insurance.

I do believe that some States are bitching about the expansion of Medicaid, because we can't let poor people have healthcare.

No worse than what's been pulled for speed limits or the drinking age.  And this actually accomplishes something.

[QueenofHearts]

an aside, i cannot wait for obama to unveil his general election strategy. i hope he just sits back and plays clips of the crazy shit the right has said for the past 3 years and just let that stand for itself.

I really think its going to be at the first debate, Obama will look at Romney and ask "what do I need to do to make you happy?" At which point Obama will sit back and smile while Romney's silence/BS answer exposes the Republican's oppositional defiance towards the President.

If not that, then I think he'll campaign on his foreign policy. With the GOP blocking just about everything they can legislative wise, the area of foreign policy is the one area he can act unopposed. It also helps that his foreign policy has a very good track record for the last 3 years and the 8 years before him was an outright cluster-fuck.

[Her3tiK]

an aside, i cannot wait for obama to unveil his general election strategy. i hope he just sits back and plays clips of the crazy shit the right has said for the past 3 years and just let that stand for itself.

I really think its going to be at the first debate, Obama will look at Romney and ask "what do I need to do to make you happy?" At which point Obama will sit back and smile while Romney's silence/BS answer exposes the Republican's oppositional defiance towards the President.

If not that, then I think he'll campaign on his foreign policy. With the GOP blocking just about everything they can legislative wise, the area of foreign policy is the one area he can act unopposed. It also helps that his foreign policy has a very good track record for the last 3 years and the 8 years before him was an outright cluster-fuck.

Obama would need a spine to pull the first one off.

[speshuled67]

Obama would need a spine to pull the first one off.

word.

[nickiknack]

i think the public option would be entirely acceptable to the majority of americans, but because of the absolute vitriol spouted by fox and the corporate news networks during the healthcare debates, people simply got confused. as for single payer, i dont want to emulate the canadian system at the present because americans as a whole are far unhealthier than the great white north. if we enact their system, it would be completely clogged like the average texan’s arteries for years.

Personally, I think the best system for us would've been some sort of universal multi-payer system, similiar to what Germany has, where one has the option of opting out of the public plan, and have some sort of private plan instead. And I agree, most Amerricans would like something like the public option, but sadly, we will probably never know, remember the public option wasn't rejected due to the public hating the idea, it's just that our sad excuse for Democrats wanted to kiss healthcare insurance industry ass, proving what coporate whores they are.

[Rabbit of Caerbannog]

To be fair, the only bit they can actually challenge is the forced purchase of insurance.

If that's gone, well, health care is hardly the only massive completely unfunded project the US pays for.

If forcing people to purchase private insurance is found unconstitutional(which it really should be), then the remaining options are largely things that unfuck the current plan to some extent.

This was all pretty much called around the time the easily challenged bit was tossed into the health care plan.

I'm no fan of the Affordable Care Act but I don't think the individual mandate should be ruled unconstitutional. If we can regulate marijuana under the Commerce Clause (Gonzales v. Raich) and if we can force a farmer to not consume wheat that he grew for his own consumption under the Commerce Clause (Wickard v. Filburn) I see no reason why Congress cannot use the Commerce Clause to force people to buy health insurance or face a fine.

[TenfoldMaquette]

I'm no fan of the Affordable Care Act but I don't think the individual mandate should be ruled unconstitutional. If we can regulate marijuana under the Commerce Clause (Gonzales v. Raich) and if we can force a farmer to not consume wheat that he grew for his own consumption under the Commerce Clause (Wickard v. Filburn) I see no reason why Congress cannot use the Commerce Clause to force people to buy health insurance or face a fine.

It's not unconstitutional in the first place. Changing the word "penalty" to "tax" in order to squeak it by some judges changes neither the intent nor the outcome, meaning it's a matter of verbiage and semantics at best.