As noted earlier this evening in a fine diary by Trifecta, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has revealed the existence of an Obama "Death Panel" that will deny life-sustaining treatments to handicapped children, and will mandate abortions in cases of Down's Syndrome children such as the former governor's son, Trig. Rather than reflexively accepting Palin's claims I've done some research, and I'm pleased to report that the initiative is much more far-reaching and well-thought-out than we dared to hope. More on the Obama Death Panel Initiative (ODPI) after the jump.
As it turns out, Obama's transition team was working on this issue long before January 20--in fact, key members of the team were brought together in Kenya by Obama's father as early as 1965. (Valerie Jarrett and E.F. Lavender went to college together at the University of Tirana.) Over time the mandate of the DPAG (Death Panel Advisory Group) expanded to include not just health care, but a range of issues including the environment, national security, and financial sector regulation. After Obama became the Democratic nominee and presumptive next president in mid-2008, the working group was headed by Hillary Clinton, whose practical experience in death panel management during her husband's presidency informs many of the final recommendations.
Some of the DPAG's main recommendations (dated 1/19/09) are as follows:
- Establishment of sectoral death panels (SDPs) under each Cabinet-level department, with the power to eliminate anti-changites (AC's) hindering the work or profitability of that sector, by majority vote of its members.
- Establishment of a central White House Death Panel (WHDP) empowered to eliminate anti-changites by category rather than as specifically named individuals--this is the panel that Palin referred to in her recent comments.
- Perhaps most exciting for us Kossacks, the DPAG has proposed, and Obama has approved, a Daily Kos Death Panel Advisory Board. This group, nicknamed "ThanaKos," will develop lists of dangerous anti-changites that the SDPs as well as WHDP will review for implementation. As an interesting aside, Obama was adamant that these lists should be truly bipartisan, with equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans.
According to polling commissioned by David Axelrod, the ODPI polls very well across most regions and demograhics: progressives like the results, while conservatives just can't say no to the idea of the government killing people. My sources in the White House say that senior staff are a little miffed that Palin revealed partial details of the initiative before its formal unveiling (which was scheduled for December 18, Stalin's birthday), but they're confident they can get out in front of the story and have the panels up and running shortly.