Barack Obama: Socialize Health Insurance :: Political News and commentaries

« Obama's approval tanks to basement level | Main | Glenn Beck's CPAC Speech »

February 22, 2010

Barack Obama: Socialize Health Insurance

Our Socialist-in-Chief, Barack Obama, appears be going beyond his plans for a government insurance program to compete with the private sector, and instead, he's proposing something much more radical: having the federal government set the rates of private insurance companies (H/t - James Joyner).

STACLU aptly notes, if Barack is not a socialist then why is he targeting insurance rate control by the federal government.

Tom Maguire's take is that this is not helpful for the insurance industry but good for advancing the interests of the Democratic Party.

A key Democratic goal of health reform (as was kicked around during the HillaryCare debacle) is to create a new middle-class entitlement. If this plays out like Social Security it will tie the middle class to their benefactors in the Democratic Party, which will forever position itself as the party of more generous benefits paid for by Someone Else.

Clearly, both STACLU and Maguire are correct in their takes, Barack Obama is indeed a socialist, as he has repeatedly demonstrated through his agenda, and this is a political move on the part of Obama meant to position the Democratic Party for 2010. Whether it works or not depends on just how gullible American voters are willing to be - a rather scary scenario, given that they were gullible enough to elect him to office.

As Michael F. Cannon suggests over at Cato@Liberty: "This is not hope. This is not change. (Much less a game-changer.) It is, to pinch a phrase, a return to "the failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis."

Updates:
GOP leader Boehner: President's Health Care Proposal Jeopardizes Summit, Doubles Down on Failed Approach Americans Have Already Rejected.
Mitch McConnell: Obama's Proposal 'Disappointing'