Hope, but not holding my breath for good health reform

So President Obama is taking a page from my hero LBJ on getting the sausage made, good to hear. I often think that if 'ole Lame Brains, as my Dad used to call him, was still around we wouldn't be facing right-wing delusions of relevence, or the polarizing influence of vast wealth and income inequality of today. I do want to believe that President Obama is as tough and crafty as george will and others allege, actually willing and able to deliver on progressive, reality-based reform.

It has to be noted that LBJ's Great Society fell far short of what he really wanted, and due to the some of the same issues we face today. Johnson wanted to make people's lives better but did not want to fight a real fight with the business community. Medicare and Medicaid are tremendous programs that would work even better if republicans didn't constantly try to sabotage them, these initiatives had a definite positive effect on quality of life for seniors and poor Americans. In the 1960's there was a residue of regulatory cops on the beat, protecting the public purse from corporate greed and therefore good private health insurance could be had for most of us. Unions had fought for decades to achieve the social contract inch by inch from corporations and didn't want to lessen the need for continued organizing.

Now, if it weren't for class loyalty, the business community outside of the insurance companies would be screaming for single-payer health care for the simple fact that it is far too expensive for even big companies to deliver on what they had once provided for employees. The right-wing succeeded in gutting any limits on ripping us off, business responded by deskilling and outsourcing as many jobs as possible while forcing, little by little, those left to make concessions on their share of the income work generates. Consequently, economic expansions in the eighties and nineties meant skyrocketing corporate profits while workers just got to keep their jobs.

Right now, the best thing about the public option as it appears is that many of the people kicked out of private plans for actually needing coverage will actually get the care they need while executives can maintain their "gold-plated" coverage. In this guise, Obama and Johnson are similar as Medicare was intended for people who simply couldn't get private insurance anymore either. As it stands, the insurance industry will probably come out ahead with this plan despite howling from the loonies on fox, et al. And maybe for a change the US won't be the laughing stock of the industrialized world.

But, I'm not holding my breath.