On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal said: "The more we inspect the House [health care] bill, the more it looks to be one of the worst pieces of legislation ever introduced in Congress."
And the folks are catching on. According to the latest Gallup/USA Today poll, Americans now disapprove of the way Obama is handling health care, 50 percent to 44 percent. Fifty-nine percent say the president is spending too much money; 52% oppose his dramatic expansion of the federal government. So things are going south fast for Barack Obama.
Writing in The New York Times Tuesday, David Brooks sees a collapse on the left: "It was interesting to watch the Republican Party lose touch with America. It's not that interesting to watch the Democrats lose touch with America. That's because the plotline is exactly the same. The party is led by insular liberals from big cities and the coasts, who neither understand nor sympathize with moderates. They have their own cherry-picking pollsters, their own media and activist cocoon… We're only in the early stages of the liberal suicide march. Every cliche Ann Coulter throws at the Democrats is gloriously fulfilled by the Democratic health care bills. The bills do almost nothing to control health care inflation. They are modeled on the Massachusetts health reform law that is currently coming apart at the seams."
Wednesday night, President Obama will try to save his health care vision with a prime-time press conference. He will not succeed. Americans understand that the essential force of this country is freedom, not big government micromanaging what we can and can't do.
Mr. Obama does not get that. He is still using his power to demand his vision of social justice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MEREDITH VIEIRA, "TODAY" SHOW: If you attach a surtax to people who are making $280,000 or more, isn't that, in effect, punishing the rich?
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: No, it's not punishing the rich. I think, the way I look at it is if I can afford to do a little bit more so that a whole bunch of families out there have a little more security when I already have security, that's part of being a community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Wrong. That is being forced to fund Obama's vision of what's fair. Being part of a community means voluntarily helping your neighbors by charitable acts and donations, and we Americans lead the world in that.
Look, the feds need to provide strict oversight on the health care industry. The price gouging, sleazy lawsuits, insurance cons and the like need to be policed. Guidelines for fair medical treatment need to be established so the folks can catch a break.
But President Obama and his gang cannot run the health care industry, and they will create chaos if they try. The folks know this, and that's why the president is taking a beating. He does not understand that freedom trumps ideological legislation.
And that's "The Memo."
Pinheads & Patriots
A brilliant column in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday by Bret Stephens entitled "Celebrity Culture vs. the Right Stuff." Mr. Stephens compares our rancid pop culture fixations, stuff like Michael Jackson, with the heroism of Neil Armstrong and other lunar astronauts. The column can be accessed at onlinewsj.com, and Mr. Stephens is a patriot for writing it.
On the pinhead front, just when you thought it was safe to get back in the water, giant squids are terrorizing surfers, swimmers and little squids off the coast of San Diego. We are not kidding. The Humboldt squid can grow up to 100 pounds and has been known to attack humans. Scientists aren't sure why they're swarming to the California coast, but they could be trying to buy foreclosed houses. Anyway, giant squids who bother the folks are pinheads.
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