Pt. 1 The Creation Of A Crisis

Talking down and taking down the current system.

It is March 2008 and a young, hopeful Senator from Illinois is speaking before a forum sponsored by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) about the issue of health care reform. He speaks of rising premiums and bloated profits by the health insurance fat cats. It's nothing new to this crowd. They're used to hearing the chants of evil corporate America and his words resonate well with them. He sits in a swivel office chair, completely at ease with the crowd and with himself. His mastery of oratory is well known by now and he does not fail to please in this instance. He intones solemnly about the need to bring down the costs of health care so that the average American can afford it. He uses the statistics that never fail to elicit emotion and a sense of outrage amongst his audience. He has them in the palm of his hand as he says casually,

"My commitment is to make sure that we have universal health care for every American by the end of my first term as President...but I don't think we're going to be able to eliminate employer coverage immediately. There's going to be potentially some transition process. I can envision a decade out or 15 years out or 20 years out..."

In that one, deft admission he lays the groundwork for what he sees as his monument to himself. A shining example of the mark he will leave on the country where he would very soon, be elected President. This is the great pyramid of his legacy. More impressive than a statue and longer lasting than one of his speeches. He continues talking about how corrupt the current health care system is, how patently unfair the whole thing is to the poor and disadvantaged. He is a class warrior with hardened armor borne of Chicago politics. It is strong, impenetrable and weathered well with the political blood of those who have dared to challenge him. He is a machine by this point, unstoppable and careening right up Pennsylvania Avenue with the ultimate next stop--The White House.

Fast forward to one year later, the former Senator from Illinois, now President of The United States, stands poised to launch the greatest social change in the country since civil rights. Not since the march on Selma has there been an opportunity like this. His popularity is soaring despite record unemployment and a massive crash in the housing market. He can do no wrong with the country and he knows it. Very little of what he has tried to rescue the flailing economy has worked and it's beginning to show signs of weakening even further in spite of the billions of dollars he's had Congress pump into it. GM and Chrysler are showing signs of impending collapse, banks are failing at an astronomical rate and the general mood of most Americans is one of outright fear. Even amidst the chaos of all that is going on around him, he sees the future he has planned for so long within his grasp. The time is right and the pieces are all in place. He gives his first speech before a joint session of Congress and includes this short paragraph outlining things to come,

"I suffer no illusions that this will be an easy process. It will be hard. But I also know that nearly a century after Teddy Roosevelt first called for reform, the cost of our health care has weighed down our economy and the conscience of our nation long enough. So let there be no doubt: health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year."

Throughout the next few months he continues to ratchet up his rhetoric and hone his message to a razor sharp point,

"...right now families are being crushed by the cost of health care. Right now businesses are being crushed by the cost of health care. Right now our government is going bankrupt at the state and federal level because of health care. Right now 46 million people are without insurance."

The numbers don't lie do they? The statistics fall easily from his mouth as if he were channeling them from above. He has the country at a fever pitch and all because of those evil, greedy health insurance companies. It's a crisis of epic proportions and he's got us all convinced that we're doomed unless we do something about it. The country will surely break apart at the seams if we don't.

What he doesn't mention in those statistics are the hard numbers lurking inside that paint a very different picture. Of those 46 million people without health care, nearly one third make more than $50,000 per year and choose not to buy health insurance, one third are eligible but simply choose, for whatever reason, not to enroll and nearly 20% are illegal immigrants according to a CDC study. Another facet of the debate that never seems to get much mention is that excessive and burdensome governmental regulation has forced the cost of health to rise faster than the cost of living. He quotes statistics that show our health care system ranked lower than most of our civilized neighbors in the world but chooses to cite the worst of those statistics. He's laying the groundwork again to tear apart one sixth of our national economy with a constant barrage of doom and gloom. What is good about our health care system over our neighbors in the world, shorter wait times for treatments, more life saving research and treatments--those things are never mentioned when he talks about the uninsured and Americans quietly begin to doubt the level of crisis. This doesn't quite pass America's "smell test" but he remains undaunted in his goal of achieving the single greatest overhaul of the US economy since the New Deal. He's determined to succeed where Teddy Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Hillary Clinton have all failed in the past and he begins to make the list of those who will advise him on his victory over capitalism.