Legal Commentary

Except For The Mandate And No Public Option, HCR Is Exactly Like What Obama Promised

By Big Tent Democrat

Ezra humor for the day (and here is Marcy Wheeler laughing with me):

The health-care bill that looks likely to clear the Senate this week [. . .] is very close to the health-care bill that Barack Obama promised. [. . .] [T]here are, to be sure, some differences. The public option did not survive the Senate. The individual mandate, which Obama campaigned against, was added [. . .] Drug reimportation was defeated, and a vague effort to have government pick up some catastrophic costs was never really mentioned.

But other than that, EXACTLY the same. From the guy who spent the summer attacking Howard Dean for supposed "flip-flopping," this is damned funny. Look, the Senate bill will stand and fall on it own merits. And campaign promises are not worth the paper they are written on (NAFTA renegotiation anyone?) But this type of silly stuff does no one any good - not Obama, not Ezra, and not anyone else.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on December 21, 2009 (boomark / email).