A CEO For President
A CEO for the USA” was the headline for the April 30 edition of National Review’s cover story on Mitt Romney. It reflects the views not only of founder Bill Buckley but of fat-cat Republicans everywhere whose money and influence determine the party’s choice for President.
Interestingly enough, working Americans are already caught up in this idea of CEOs controlling their lives. Such as those Circuit City employees fired for rising to a level of competence that demanded better pay. So much for the American Dream of work hard and you’ll get ahead. George W. changed all that when he replaced experienced FEMA hands with political cronies who made such a botch of Katrina that all will soon receive the Medal of Freedom.
Romney does have a credibility problem. He’s like the weather in Chicago—if you don’t like his stance on an issue, just wait a minute and it will change.
In the Republican Presidential primaries, the jut-jawed Romney (National Review sees a resemblance to Dudley Do-Right) isn’t alone in the race to become America’s CEO. Rudy Giuliani ran America’s largest city for eight years and now says he’s ready to run America. His party may be out to lunch on all the issues ordinary people care about, but not Rudy. He’s selling competence, not ideology.
Now he’s bringing that fabled Giuliani competence to bear on the most pressing domestic issue facing our nation—a dysfunctional health care system that is bankrupting families and businesses.
Trolling for votes in New Hampshire, Giuliani said all the Democratic candidates want universal health care. “They want us to be like another France, with government-controlled health insurance,” he said derisively. (“An audible hiss went through the well-heeled crowd of 200 wine-sipping Republicans”, reported the New York Daily News.)
And well they should hiss. Frozen in snow and time, these New Hampshire voters can recognize competence over ideology. Giuliani was telling them and the American people (including the 47 million uninsured) that if elected President our country will be spared a health care system the World Health Organization ranks as the best in the universe.
France’s system covers everyone. It is noted for its short waiting periods, affordability, freedom of physician choice, doctors who still make house calls, exemplary gynecological care, quality health care for immigrants and the poor, while spending about half of what Americans pay to fund a health care system ranked 37th in the world.
A recent Kaiser Foundation study of American health care finds that private medical insurance fails to meet three essential criteria: that it be available, affordable and adequate. We have a system where insurance companies make money not by providing care, but by denying it.
As a cry for universal health care resounds throughout the land (at least the blue states), Romney tells voters he’s been there, done that. He brags that as governor of Massachusetts, he delivered on universal coverage. The plain truth is his so-called “reform” plan represents a massive cost shift onto the backs of working families. The legislation mandates high-deductible, bare-bones coverage that warms the hearts only of insurance agents.
Our country tells the world how to create democratic institutions, but we ignore how other societies have successfully dealt with the health care crisis. There isn’t a country in the industrialized world that would trade their health care system for ours.
As George W. markets democracy to the Middle East, Dudley Do-Right tells National Review he wants Muslim states to have the benefit of our “health care initiatives and innovations.” I’m sure the President’s Health Savings Accounts will be very big in Falujah.
Voters should keep all this in mind in 2008. If it’s the bottom line of the health insurance industry they’re concerned about, they should elect a CEO. If it’s their own bottom line they’re worried about, they might want to elect a President.
Interestingly enough, working Americans are already caught up in this idea of CEOs controlling their lives. Such as those Circuit City employees fired for rising to a level of competence that demanded better pay. So much for the American Dream of work hard and you’ll get ahead. George W. changed all that when he replaced experienced FEMA hands with political cronies who made such a botch of Katrina that all will soon receive the Medal of Freedom.
Romney does have a credibility problem. He’s like the weather in Chicago—if you don’t like his stance on an issue, just wait a minute and it will change.
In the Republican Presidential primaries, the jut-jawed Romney (National Review sees a resemblance to Dudley Do-Right) isn’t alone in the race to become America’s CEO. Rudy Giuliani ran America’s largest city for eight years and now says he’s ready to run America. His party may be out to lunch on all the issues ordinary people care about, but not Rudy. He’s selling competence, not ideology.
Now he’s bringing that fabled Giuliani competence to bear on the most pressing domestic issue facing our nation—a dysfunctional health care system that is bankrupting families and businesses.
Trolling for votes in New Hampshire, Giuliani said all the Democratic candidates want universal health care. “They want us to be like another France, with government-controlled health insurance,” he said derisively. (“An audible hiss went through the well-heeled crowd of 200 wine-sipping Republicans”, reported the New York Daily News.)
And well they should hiss. Frozen in snow and time, these New Hampshire voters can recognize competence over ideology. Giuliani was telling them and the American people (including the 47 million uninsured) that if elected President our country will be spared a health care system the World Health Organization ranks as the best in the universe.
France’s system covers everyone. It is noted for its short waiting periods, affordability, freedom of physician choice, doctors who still make house calls, exemplary gynecological care, quality health care for immigrants and the poor, while spending about half of what Americans pay to fund a health care system ranked 37th in the world.
A recent Kaiser Foundation study of American health care finds that private medical insurance fails to meet three essential criteria: that it be available, affordable and adequate. We have a system where insurance companies make money not by providing care, but by denying it.
As a cry for universal health care resounds throughout the land (at least the blue states), Romney tells voters he’s been there, done that. He brags that as governor of Massachusetts, he delivered on universal coverage. The plain truth is his so-called “reform” plan represents a massive cost shift onto the backs of working families. The legislation mandates high-deductible, bare-bones coverage that warms the hearts only of insurance agents.
Our country tells the world how to create democratic institutions, but we ignore how other societies have successfully dealt with the health care crisis. There isn’t a country in the industrialized world that would trade their health care system for ours.
As George W. markets democracy to the Middle East, Dudley Do-Right tells National Review he wants Muslim states to have the benefit of our “health care initiatives and innovations.” I’m sure the President’s Health Savings Accounts will be very big in Falujah.
Voters should keep all this in mind in 2008. If it’s the bottom line of the health insurance industry they’re concerned about, they should elect a CEO. If it’s their own bottom line they’re worried about, they might want to elect a President.
posted by Victor Kamber | 9:37 AM
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