IF ONLY HE WERE A RADICAL:

Obama and the irony of status quo (Robert J. Samuelson, August 10, 2009, Newsweek)

One of the bewildering ironies of the health care debate is that President Barack Obama claims to be attacking the status quo when he's actually embracing it. Ever since Congress created Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, health politics has followed a simple logic: Expand benefits and talk about controlling costs. That's the status quo, and Obama faithfully adheres to it. While denouncing skyrocketing health spending, he would increase it by extending government health insurance to millions more Americans.

Just why this approach is perennially popular is no secret. Health care is viewed as a “right.” Promoting it seems “moral.” Cost controls suggest dreaded “rationing.” So there's a powerful bias toward expansion.

History is unambiguous.