The Election is Over, and the Campaign Mentality Should Be, Too

Health care in the United States is a big issue. It is among the nation's biggest industries. It continues to suck down a growing share of GDP. The increase of cost is accelerating. Gone are the days of house calls from familiar family doctors, and access to treatment only seems to grow more difficult by the day.

A solution must be found to a problem that could bankrupt the nation's assistance programs and burden the public with crushing costs. President Obama thinks he has the solution--move more of the cash flow through government agencies. This writer disagrees, and already wrote a suggestion (which the President and his Washington supporters decline to consider). The solution for health care is promoting and supporting health care. Government intervention into insurance programs and premiums does not change the care that people receive, and it does nothing to promote a sustainable balance between supply and demand. It simply gives the government access to more cash which, as we have seen with Social Security and Medicare, the legislature is unavoidably tempted to "borrow" from. If you thought they made a mess of the money they already "borrowed," wait until you see what they do with the cash flows from nationalized medical insurance programs.

Misguided as he may be, though, Barack is attacking with a full court press (he likes basketball, right?). While international issues mount throughout Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia, military shifts occur in Iraq and Afghanistan, border security remains neglected, and a plethora of other matters require attention, Barack focuses a singular focus on his pet project--health care reform (nationalization of health insurance). And he just can't get enough. Although he denies that this is personal, he makes it personal. He lives and breathes it to the exclusion of all other executive responsibilities. His own party says the rush to vote is excessive. The Republicans refuse to accommodate him.

The transparent government that Barack promised has never materialized. Each day it moves farther and farther out of reach. All the while, the promises that Barack made to reunite the nation are trampled. Much like his gentleman's agreement with John McCain to limit campaign expenditures which Barack broke. Much like the promise to consider competing viewpoints which have been forced out of the debate through political maneuvering. Much like the bills that were supposed to be posted for public review for several days before the President would sign them.

To advance the nation's interests, the President needs to step back and recognize that his personal agenda for nationalized health insurance requires the open debate that he promised. It requires the input of people from both ends of the political spectrum and everyone in between. It requires time and opportunity for open and honest debate. None of this has happened. Why not?

This writer suggests that Obama is still treating everything as an election issue. He is campaigning to win at the ballot box. Barack, the election is over. No one has denied that you are the President (although resolving the birth certificate issue by producing a birth certificate might remove that one remaining distraction). It is time to stop behaving as a candidate. You received your 52% of the popular vote. You won the Electoral College. To borrow a phrase from many of your supporters, move on. Be President Obama, not Barack the presidential candidate.