What does the health insurance industrial complex have on Obama?

In lieu of an extended post that I have been preparing regarding Obama supporters - apologists vs. critics - the point seems moot as I am not sure that even the apologists support what is happening with the healthcare bill. Believe me, you can be sure the critics don't feel any joy over the way this has gone down either.

Forget licentious Lieberman and his band of amoral cohorts of both parties; Obama has abandoned all opportunities, from the very beginning, for meaningful leadership on healthcare. The insurance lobby must have some very useful information about the President, or someone in his family, that would make him kiss their asses the way he has...right from the get-go when he made the deal with big PhRMA. Remember his support of single payer when he was a State Senator in Illionois? That was oh so long ago in the Pleistocene Age of politics, right? What happened between then and now?

Obama has chosen to stand on the sidelines while the battle for a decent bill rages on. Why? There has to be a reason. Listening to malignant influencer, Rahm Emanuel, isn't reason enough for Obama to desert his authority. Someone, somewhere knows something he doesn't want us to know. There is simply no other explanation as to why he conceded this whole debate to the health insurance industry. The secret must be a doozy. If it isn't that, please let me know what else it could be. I'm listening. (Please, no tortured explanations of how hard it is lead or what a mess he's had to deal with...)

Afghanistan Weather Report: Cloudy with a Chance of Bombs

Obama's speech was just so sad - from the invocation of 9/11, to the recitation of wishy washy reasons for justifying his decision, to the circling back to 9/11 at the end of the speech to wrap up the unwanted gift of a continuing war to the American public - well, it was beyond disappointing. To use 9/11 as justification for this escalation, aside from taunting us with echoes of Bush, was intellectually weak and sounded as though he were in some fantasy world about how this new escalation would transform Afghanistan into an embryonic Disneystan...in just 18 months! As I watched the cadets, some so young they still had pimples, I grieved to think that some of those sitting there would be going off to war and never come back. A war for what? The trope is 'national security', but it rings so hollow, except for those generals who get to keep their jobs and keep the military complex employed. Nevermind that 15,700,000 citizens in the United States are unemployed, and 26,950,000 Americans looking for full time jobs.

I don't care how many times they role-played in the war room and in Obama's planning sessions about this escalation, the actual outcome is always elusive...never one that's anticipated. But with this political strategy, at least Obama will get to say he tried and then we can leave. BUT WAIT. THERE'S MORE. We're not leaving. Today Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, testified before Congress that "we are not locked into the timetable", so who's to say that we couldn't be there for 50 more years...just like Korea. And Independent nightmare, Joe Lieberman, patted the President on the back for bucking his own party and siding with the warhorses...well, that's just sick. Obama must be feeling proud about that feint praise. Where is Obama's courage to buck the likes of General McChrystal and his posse, and corrupt contractors drooling for some of that $30 billion that should be staying here, at home, to repair this crippled economy?

Ok, enough about how depressing this is...here's the solution to take back control of our wayward child's misguided ways. Time for some tough love. Since funding for the war needs to be authorized by Congress, we have to work on our representatives to simply NOT FUND THE WAR. I can already hear the chorus of "how can we not support our troops"? Well, what could be more supportive than not funding them so that they can come home. That would be the most patriotic thing to do. We cannot let the war be funded. If ever there was a time for the grassroots to get busy, this is it.