Health Care & More

Health Care

As promised.

Approximately 75% of the country is relatively satisfied with its health care – both the system and the delivery of care. That means the proponents of health care overhaul are trying to swim upstream with a 40 pound weight on their backs.

Many in favor of a health care overhaul are well intentioned – helping those in need. Some are semi-socialists - wanting as much central government control and influence as possible in as many areas of life as possible. And some are just born followers or decision making-challenged, who do what they are told by their party leaders.

Regardless, the math is the math. It’s next to impossible to add 30+ million people to doctors’ waiting rooms across the country without it affecting the timeliness and quality of care.

It’s also hard to believe the federal government can provide a delivery system that’s on budget. History indicates otherwise.

What does this all mean?

If anything does get passed, it will be likely by watered down and relatively harmless to those who already have decent to excellent heath insurance/coverage – the 75% we mentioned earlier.

However, whatever passes will still allow its proponents to claim victory and move on to the likely next battleground – illegal immigration.

Either way, the party in power (democrats) seems to be taking a serious political hit for pushing something the majority of Americans don’t want. I guess we’ll find out if the polling is accurate come next November – in the mid-term election.

Some top democratic strategists are pushing the theory that if health care does not get passed, the base of the party (democrats) will be so disillusioned that it will fail to turn out to vote in 2010 – guaranteeing a huge republican victory.

That logic seems somewhat flawed to this observer who believes if health care does pass, that will only anger the opposition even more – creating a huge turnout to offset any base democratic turnout in 2010.

Again, we’ll have the answer in early November of 2010. Besides, a lot can happen between now and then. One year is an eternity in politics.

The bottom line is this has been a center right country for a long, long time. The 2008 election was not a monumental shift in the American political landscape as some tried to sell (see NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, Time, Newsweek, etc.).

The election of Mr. Obama was part cult of personality, part repudiation of republican control, part John McCain is a nice man but simply looks too old to do this difficult job, part the economy went to total hell less than two months before the election took place and part there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

It was as we have described in the past as "the perfect storm."

Today, it looks like some are having buyers’ remorse. Polls indicate Americans are most concerned about jobs and the deficit – that’s a good thing. Since when has our “spend-first and pay later society” truly felt concerned about putting everything on credit?

I would argue however if unemployment were at 8% right now – which is high but not staggering – Mr. Obama would be in much better shape politically, his health care proposal would have a real chance of passing, concern about the national debt would not be so high on the list of American concerns, and democrats would not be looking at a potential Waterloo next November.

Short of another 9-11 occurrence, it’s all about jobs – always has been and always will be.

As long as unemployment hangs around 10%, it looks to the American people as though Obama and company are in over their heads. You don’t need daily polling or a political science degree from Brown University to figure that one out.

Things could be worse Mr. President – gas could be at $4.00 a gallon – then you’d really be in trouble.

See, now you can carry on a conversation on the issue if it comes up at your upcoming X-mas work party as you munch on shrimp.

The Irish
According to the Notre Dame AD, Charlie Weiss sealed his fate with late November losses. What?

Does that mean if he beat Navy, he would have kept his job? Ridiculous.

How about analyzing his body of work instead? For $10 million a year, you expect more, much more. It’s that simple. Don’t give me any garbage about a win over Connecticut would have helped Weiss’ cause. You insult my intelligence when you go there.

No one has asked me, but John Gruden is the guy I would go after if I ran Notre Dame’s athletic department.

Chucky can coach, is the right age and has the right approach in dealing with recruiting 18 year olds.

He has the energy, disposition, personality and communication skills to deal with the media attention that comes with coaching at Notre Dame. Finally, Gruden has Notre Dame ties – his old man coached there.

Look, we all know the Notre Dame “Brand” isn’t what it once was. However, the Irish is still the most loved and most hated college sports program in the nation. That means the “Brand” still has some life.

And with the right person is in charge, it can become a gold mine once again – even in 2010.

Cavaliers
I don’t like the way they are winning – beating teams late with talent instead of with suffocating defense. But it’s early.

Indians
My boy Kelly Shoppach got dealt. I still like his bat – although is .214 average in 2009 hurt his case. Regardless, I don’t worry much about average from that position if you can call a game, throw out 30% of runners trying to steal and hit for power. We’ll see what he does in Tampa.

Besides, the Indians claim they have three catchers in waiting who can do much better. We’ll see. One thing is for certain, if a couple of these guys are for real, I suggest you deal one of them for some pitching sooner rather than later.

I’ll say it over and over again – this starting staff on paper stinks. That’s what happens when you deal two Cy Young winners, your #2 falls off the face of the earth (Carmona), your #3 goes down (Westbrook) and your much-heralded farm system can only deliver one soft-tossing mediocre lefty after another.

And since pitching is 70% of this game, the Indians head into 2010 with Trent Dilfer as their quarterback.

Browns
Not much this week. You see the same thing I see.

I have come to one conclusion however – this is the worse offensive talent in terms of playmakers I have ever seen on one team at the professional level – that’s after 40 years of watching folks.

We begged the Browns to draft some “playmakers” in the 2009 draft. They decided to continually trade down, accumulate picks and take a center #1.

How’s that working out?

We said the same thing when DA was at the helm earlier this season – it’s hard for any quarterback to get judged with this garbage around him. One could argue Brady Quinn had more offensive talent around him at Notre Dame. At least he actually had a pro tight end – who decided to go for the 60 feet, 6 inch gig instead of getting hit on every play. He also had an experienced “O” coordinator Charlie Weiss.

Regardless, it is what it is, and Quinn needs to show some improvement and consistency this month if he wants his stock to rise for 2010.

Life's not fair, but if you're BQ, when you begin to feel sorry for yourself, you need to realize it could be much worse - you could be digging ditches for a living instead of getting paid to play a game.

One more time – I would like to see Jerome Harrison get a full look in December. But then again, this offense not only lacks talent, but has absolutely no direction.

Harrison rushed for over 100 yards against the Bengals the first time around, and is hardly used the second time out against Cincy. What is the logic behind that decision?

We have complained over and over again the past 10 years that this team has absolutely no identity. As we speak, it’s like an amber alert is needed. It’s worse than no identity – you can’t even find the body.

Finally, answer me this question. In short yardgae situations, why don't the Browns consistently run over their left side - where they have spend a fortune recently on a guard in free agency, a tackle in the draft and a first round pick at center in 2009?

It seems to me if you can't consistently run behind those guys when you need it most, they ain't as good as advertised.

Let's at least find out one way or the other.