Times' Krugman: Healthcare reform double cross by Barack W. Bush or William Jefferson Obama?

Fox's Minnesota Beauty Queen, Gretchen Carlson, repeated three time during the two minutes that we had her on this morning that people were starting to call our president, "Barack W. Bush" because he is adopting some of the policy positions of his predecessor.

We don't get why these right-wingers are mocking Obama for being hypocritical when he is capitulating to the stances that they want.

In the Times, Paul Krugman brings up health care reform, another area in which Obama appears to be backing away from his strong promises. In this case, Krugman insinuates, the president appears to be aping the cowardice towards health care reform that was emblematic of former president Clinton.

Krugman doesn't -- but we do ask if we should start to call our leader, William Jefferson Obama.

Our Talmudic question. Why is it that you can pass credit card reform in one day but not so for health care reform? Is it that the overgrowth of the jungle of the latter is so much more complex, which it may be? Or is it rather that the politicians have no serious intention of passing such reform?

We need government to get involved. The current state of health care is a nightmare, getting worse each day.

Op-Ed Columnist - Blue Double Cross
By PAUL KRUGMAN

That didn’t take long. Less than two weeks have passed since much of the medical-industrial complex made a big show of working with President Obama on health care reform — and the double-crossing is already well under way. Indeed, it’s now clear that even as they met with the president, pretending to be cooperative, insurers were gearing up to play the same destructive role they did the last time health reform was on the agenda.

So here’s the question: Will Mr. Obama gloss over the reality of what’s happening, and try to preserve the appearance of cooperation? Or will he honor his own pledge, made back during the campaign, to go on the offensive against special interests if they stand in the way of reform? ...more...