Obama Speaks Plainly – And Slips One By…

September 10, 2009 | Posted by Steve

My family and I sat down tonight to a civics lesson in why Barack Obama is the Prez and George Bush is a fast-fading memory.  The man can just plain speak and when he does speak he speaks very plainly.  He knows how to articulate tough issues in simple terms and hits all the emotional touch points along the way.  Of course as old Joe Wilson (R – South Carolina) reminded us, some folks just don’t trust the Prez.  (C’mon, Joe.  Take a chill pill, will ya?)

Maybe that’s because Obama knows how to slide one by every now and then.  The Republican response missed the chance to bring Obama’s curve ball to light.  More about that in a moment…

Now don’t get me wrong.  Unlike a lot of my equally-conservative Christian brothers and sisters, I’m no “Obama is the Anti-Christ” wing-nut.  Nah, we’re all plenty sinful as is.  Labeling guys like Obama “Anti-Christ” seems a little intellectually lazy to my mind.  After all, it doesn’t take an unseen arm of Satan pulling Obama’s puppet strings for him to do dumb, though well-intentioned, stuff.  That’s the human way.  Sin nature, stupid choices.

And I guess I ought to tell you that I don’t see the health care issue in terms of Biblical chapter and verse.  The Bible didn’t envision our hybrid version of capitalism tinged with socialism, so there are few clear parallels we can draw from the Bible to inform today’s events.  I see stuff like Universal Health Care in terms of “civic” responsibility, not necessarily “Biblical” responsibility.  What should a civil society provide, regardless of whether that happens to be a Biblically-bounded society or not?

Perhaps this slightly sideways approach to the role of Christianity in politics is why I view all of this kabuki theater with eyes wide open.

And that’s why, like John McCain, I heard Obama build a bridge to the Republicans out of toothpicks and rubber cement where some bricks-n-mortar are a little more appropriate.

Obama still refuses to tackle malpractice reform with anything approaching a serious-minded fervor equal to the rest of his plan.

“But wait,” you say.  Obama did mention malpractice reform.  Correct.  He “mentioned” malpractice reform.  He didn’t commit to it.

What he did commit to was extending “experiments” in improving the “safety of health care”.  The implication is that improving safety alone is going to reduce the size of runaway malpractice settlements.

I’m a trusting guy, but I’m not that dumb.

Prez, it’s time to get serious about a holistic approach to health care reform.  So much of what you propose makes “common sense.”  On this one, you’re just whistling in the wind.  It’s time to tell some of your most ardent supporters – trial attorneys who make huge dollars on excessive malpractice awards – to shut up and shelve their greed.

Experiments are nice.  Common sense caps on punitive damages are even better.

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