On polls and healthcare.

Please click on chart to enlarge. I got it from Cannonfire.

The latest polls on BHO indicate he is losing some steam. I should hope this surprises no one. He is below 60% on job performance mostly because of the deficit and because he's at all time lows among Republicans ( again, no surprise there) and independents where he lands in the low 50s. If independent voters keep slipping - or slinking - away Obama will be okay for a bit but Dems in general better watch their backs. 2010 is much closer than 2012 and even a minor GOP rebound does the tenuous (and often mysterious) Obama agenda harm.

Believe it or not the news is bad for anyone who wants health care reform soon. Obama is drifting lower because Americans have less faith that government can solve problems now than even a few months ago. This spells trouble for the public option. The GOP will exploit the usual cavalcade of lies whenever Big Money might - just might - sustain even a minor hit for the good of the majority.

Some lies a coming:

-You won't get to chose your doctor- false AND this really only matters to upper and upper middle class folks anyway. Working stiffs want to know their doctor is competent and don't care if he/she is charming and nice. On my current plan my choices are already limited. I used it recently to see a dermatologist for flea bites I thought were something more grave. He chortled, showed me his flea bites, told me fog my place, "Advantage" Bob Barker and prescribed some lotion. I didn't need to establish a relationship with him or be his pal. I needed him to know his job. That's it. The same holds true for all doctors. Dr. Smith is just fine if Dr. Jones's services mean you lose your house. "No choice of doctors" is the strawiest of strawmen. Most people don't want to choose the doctor they see so much as they want to know they can choose to see a doctor.

- The public option will destroy private insurance. Again, false. There are public options through out the American economy and the private competition does just fine - in fact they often are forced to do better. Insurance companies should be forced to compete fiercely. This is about health not mousetraps or cars. Private insurers ought to provide a better product. As it stands now they engage in a kind of blackmail because no one has called them out and there is, in effect, no real competition.

- We can't afford it. True enough. But take away 2% of the Pentagon's budget and we've got a fine start on health care for all. The U.S. military accounts for 50% of the world's expenditure on defense. WTF? Yet 50 million have emergency rooms as there "chosen" doctor. This is not about affordability so much as priorities. We can't afford not to find the money. The system as it exists now has caused a 40% rise in medical costs in 9 years. 40%. Meanwhile the "evil" socialized medicare system has seen costs rise 3% during the same period. Insanity vs. Sanity.

- Health care will be rationed...yeah...so? Health care is ALREADY RATIONED. 30 million get the best on the planet, 120 million or so get some, and 50 million hold on tight and hope they stay healthy. Watching GOP Senators who get the best health care imaginable - on our dime - froth about rationing makes me...well...sick. Remove even part of their benefit package and I wonder how quickly real reform would pass?

We all don't need Gregory House when we break a bone or are afflicted with some disease. We need care. Care that doesn't destroy us financially. We can afford it.

The public option is a pathetic replacement for single payer - but it is the only replacement "on the table." Without it there is no reason to bother with a health care bill. What we will get sans the public option is mandated purchases of BIG INSURANCE with nominal penalties for those who don't. In other words: We will go from an unfair system that values the corporate bottom line over individual health to an unfair system YOU MUST BUY into.

Talk about a cash cow. Talk about a redistribution of wealth.

The sad thing here is that I am no guessing it is an even bet Obama will flinch on the public option. He loves being loved too much and the Mega Insurance noise machine will be ramped up big time. The last Obama promise I had some hope for might be gone by August. Polls already indicate that the Big Corporate Insurance Cabal will win the day.