I'll admit, I fell hard for the Obama campaign. Day and night, I lived "change you can believe in." I worked locally for the campaign. I donated $5, $10, $25 as I could.
I fell for Barack Obama. I believed in him. I didn't necessarily always agree with him, but I felt that he had the insight to say what he meant and meant what he said.
Now, I feel very discouraged.
As I previously have mentioned, MASSIVE healthcare reform was not on the top of my list of needed projects. My lack of trust in government's ability to "get things done" without breaking the bank is one of the main reasons. "Keep it simple stupid," works for me for a start.
Cleaning up government, eliminating earmarks (pork), transparancy in government, massive reduction in special interests were some of the top on my list. I actually believe that most Senator and Congressmen mean well (or at least believe what they say, even if misguided) and I believe that if we had a "clean" environment, the issues could be ardently discussed and better law would come from it. I believed that Obama would come to DC and change DC. What I have seen with the healthcare issue is more of the same old same old.
The healthcare reform process has failed, IMO, to comport with "change you can believe in."
As usual, it appears that the insurance companies will be the big winners. If only we knew what they as well as groups' lobbyists have paid on this issue since last summer. So much for reducing the influence of special interest groups.
Then there is transparency. I think Obama has done pretty well on his online before signing pledge, but what about being able to actually "see" bills before they are voted on. It seems to me that if we are going to change government, we really need to change government (I know, things are going so fast that it seems impossible, but isn't there a way in the middle).
The earmarks are concerning as well. To me, the most concerning part is that they are being granted on a bill that no one seems to care much for. It seems to me, if one is going to break their "change you can believe in" meme for earmarks, it ought to be for the right bill. To me, this was such a fundamental component of "change you can believe in."
For 817 billion dollars it appears that we are covering 31,000,000. These people will still have to pay premiums. For the 817 billion, we could actually pay the premiums of these 31,000,000 for probably 15 years.
How is this change? We have a bill called healthcare reform that really doesn't reform healthcare significantly. Nobody seems to really like this bill but feel that because healthcare reform is so needed, you can't pass up a chance to pass any healthcare reform bill--one that caters more to the special interest groups than the average american--one that is heavily riddled with earmarks as a means of holding together the bill that noone wants---one that is everchanging, complex, confusing and really not thought out in its present state. Oh yeah, and one that fines you and sends you to jail if you don't get buy insurance. How is this change?
Whoever can accomplish "change you can believe in" will be the winner. I no longer even care what it is called--I just want to see it and whoever accomplishes it has my vote.