Do you know what Barack Obama said about the healthcare catastrophe? He said, "it's not politics, it's personal".
Barack Obama owns healthcare. And this week and next, the whistlestop Obama Healthcare Express will bring his message of affordable and guaranteed healtcare for all Americans to the critical swing states.
Leading the charge, and standing shoulder-to-shoulder with working Americans across the country, are the take-no-prisoner heroes at the California Nurses Association. They have begun airing this great ad in swing states to remind voters that Sarah Palin is one 72-year-old cancer survivor away from the Presidency.
Check this out! If you love it, please DIGG it.
And make no mistake, people voters are really hurting across this country. It's come down to this tragic reality, in the richest country on the planet, milk or medicine. We know, without a doubt, that the Bush/McPalin policies are 100% responsible for this calamitous state of affairs.
This is going to be an amazing couple of weeks for the Obama campaign. The winds are at our backs and the issues are on our side.
The California Nurses ad calls attention to one of the most significant, and least talked about, issues in the current election campaign the possible presidency of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. The new 30 second ad, One Heartbeat Away, begins running in six battleground states: Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Colorado, and Missouri.
Most Americans know full well that this bimbo isn't qualified to be president and that the stakes could not be any higher.
For example, this morning I received an email from a group called Doctors for Obama. Doctors for Obama is a grassroots organization of physicians who believe that Barack Obama's health plan provides the best chance of solving America's healthcare crisis. You can read their statement here.
Over 5,000 physicians - in all 50 states - have signed the Doctors for Obama public letter of support for the Obama health plan. This is thelargest number of physicians to endorse a presidential candidate in modern American history.
Here's some sense of urgency from 5000 doctors.
DOCTORS SPEAK OUT FOR OBAMA
MORE THAN 5,000 PHYSICIANS ACROSS THE COUNTRY SIGN ON SO FAR TO SUPPORT THE OBAMA HEALTH CARE PLAN
PUSH FOR UNIVERSAL ACCESS AND AFFORDABLE COVERAGE IS KEY TO MEANINGFUL CHANGE IN HEALTH CARE FOR ALL AMERICANS
SENATOR McCAIN'S PLAN SEEN AS UNRESPONSIVE TO GROWING HEALTH CARE CRISIS
At a level unprecedented in modern American history, physicians and medical students from across the nation, from private practice and academic medicine, have come together to sign a letter in support of the Obama health plan. They are members of Doctors for Obama, a grassroots organization of physicians and medical students who believe it is time to make their voices heard in the national healthcare debate. Over 5,000 physicians and 1,300 medical students have signed so far from all 50 states, including many of the nation's most prominent leaders in healthcare. This is believed to be the largest number of physicians ever to endorse a candidate for political office.
Americans are seething with anger, and finally are connecting the dots. It's about time. We've seen $850 billion handed over to Wall Street but the ranks of the uninsured and underinsured (that's the rest of us) are increasing exponentially.
Rose Ann DeMoro, the executive director of the California Nurses Association connects the dots in a blistering essay, Our Healthcare System is Dying in The Nation. This common sense screed should be on the op-ed page of every newspaper in America. I recommend you read it(but first take a pill, because you will get furious).
Here's a taste.
If only the federal government could be mobilized so quickly to solve the nation's healthcare crisis. Lost in the hubbub over Wall Street crashing, the Wall Street Journal this week cited steep declines in the amount of prescriptions being filled and the number of physician office visits, the Chicago Tribune reported that workers' health costs will jump 9 percent next year, and the New York Times noted that 57 million Americans, 43 million of them people with insurance, are struggling with medical bills, the single most common path to bankruptcy. In homes and hospitals across America, our healthcare system is dying a quiet death.
The only change I would make to DeMoro's passionate indictment is that the death of the American healthcare system is no longer so quiet.
So what's a loser like John McCain to do under an avalanche of dropping polls and shrinking fortunes? There's no need for me to post the pathetic gibberish of Sarah Palin during the debate trying to explain sugarcoat McPalin's healthcare lunacy.
Here's what the Washington Post tells us we can expect this week, from John McCain.
McCain Plans Fiercer Strategy Against Obama
Sen. John McCain and his Republican allies are readying a newly aggressive assault on Sen. Barack Obama's character, believing that to win in November they must shift the conversation back to questions about the Democrat's judgment, honesty and personal associations, several top Republicans said.
Beleaguered Americans will go to the polls on November 4th, knowing quite literally that their lives hang in the balance. As I often say at the end of many diaries, no need to believe me. But please listen to the dire warning of one of the pre-eminent health policy bloggers, Joe Paduda.
Scary. Scary. Scary.
Palin doesn't understand health insurance
Last night Gov Palin convincingly demonstrated her total ignorance of the health insurance market. The woman who, according to her, once went without health insurance (fact check please) said once again that eliminating state regulation of health insurers (the real world impact of allowing interstate sale of individual policies) would solve the health insurance crisis.
Not.
Deregulating health insurance would have the opposite effect. Sure, the market would 'work'; insurers would get licensed in the most insurance-friendly state, the one with the least regulation, the fewest regulations, the lowest requirements for benefits and capital reserves. States with higher standards for insurers - like prohibitions against retroactive cancelation of policies, requirements that insurers have enough cash on hand to pay claims, and an appeals process so physicians and patients can quickly resolve disputes, would find themselves with no insurers to regulate. The free market would force all insurers to offer the cheapest policies, the ones with the lowest benefits. Any insurer that tried to offer richer benefits or covered folks with pre-existing conditions would sign up older and sicker people - you know, the folks who actually need health insurance. And be bankrupt soon after.
Here are some new Obama healthcare ads, Barack Obama knows that healthcare seals the deal. Healthcare wins the White House,and gives Democrats some extremely critical pick ups in the Senate and the House.
And another one.
Then on November 5th, the hard work begins. Then, Democrats (and any thinking Republican survivors), must stand and deliver on healthcare reform despite a looted treasury and the carnage of the last eight years.