Ghosts of Politics Past

Friday, July 11, 2008
The race for the White House is getting a bit closer. The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows Barack Obama???s lead over John McCain down to a statistically insignificant single percentage point, 43% to 42%. Prior to today, Obama had enjoyed at least a four-point advantage every day since Hillary Clinton dropped out of the race over a month ago. This is the first time his support has fallen below the 45% level since May 31.

NOBAMA!!!

Did you know that if McCain is elected you will have to pay income tax on the value of the medical insurance that your employer gives you? Worse still, he is offering a tax break for people who pay their own insurance, BUT only $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families.

Let's say you have a family of four. Your insurance policy costs would be at least $1,500-2,500 per month under a self-pay plan, which cost more than employer group plans. So, you pay $18,000 -$30,000 per year for insurance, and you get to deduct only $5,000 of that. If you paid $25,000 for you insurance, you would be out of pocket $20,000 per year. This is FAR WORSE than the current system, where if you are self employed you can deduct 100% of you medical insurance costs.

So, if you're not self employed, you would stick with your Employer's plan. Employer plans for a family of four have a value of $900-$1,500 per month totaling 10,800-$18,000 per year. Surprise! On April 15th, you owe tax on all of that as INCOME to you. Say your bracket is 25%, and the value of your Employer medical plan is $14,000. You will OWE THE IRS an additional $3,500, and that's ON TOP of whatever monthly premium you already pay to your employer for your insurance.

Many analysts say that McCain's new rules would encourage employers to stop offering health benefits. If that happened, then far fewer Americans would be insured than are insured today, because what family of four can afford $18,000-$30,000 out of pocket per year for self-pay health insurance?

Furthermore, McCain's plan does not require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions of people who self-pay their insurance. People under employer group plans have all of their pre-existing conditions covered. This is a hugely unfair aspect of the current system. Insurance companies can afford to cover the pre-existing conditions of the much larger pool of people with group insurance, but they refuse to pay the pre-existing conditions on the smaller pool of self-pay customers. They have been allowed to price gouge the self-pay customers, which is a form of market manipulation that should be illegal.

So let's say one of your kids had diabetes and you have high blood pressure, then your employer stops offering insurance. You now have to buy your own, but you and your child are INELIGIBLE due to pre-existing conditions. Oh, yeah, they will let you buy the insurance, but you can't use it for any pre-existing condition until you have paid on time every month for two years. And you know what happens at one year and 11 months? You get a letter saying your policy has been cancelled. I have many patients this has happened to.

McCain's plan SUCKS.

It does nothing to help middle class working Americans afford or obtain medical insurance. In fact, it makes the current system WORSE.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/04/29/mccain_unveils_health_care_pla.html?nav=rss_email/components

So what is the case for McCain?

No candidate for President since Wendell Wilkie in 1940 has had as little relevant experience before running for President as Barack Obama. The Illinois Senator served for 8 years, in a generally undistinguished fashion, in the Illinois legislature. He was best known for voting present more often than any other State Senator. When the Democrats took over the Legislature the last two years he served, Obama worked out a deal with the Democratic leader, Emil Jones, to get his name on some bills so he could buff up his resume before running for the open US Senate seat.

In the US Senate, Obama missed many votes in his first term even before he launched his Presidential bid, as he traveled the country speaking to Democratic Party events (and positioning himself with activists for a future Presidential run). Since the campaign began, he has missed virtually all Senate votes and failed to hold meetings of his own subcommittee. So the Obama record is very thin.

His major campaign themes have been lofty messages of change and hope and bipartisan unity. This is a smart course to take, when you have little to show for your years in public office. McCain needs to focus on Obama''s record of scant legislative accomplishment and inexperience. What has Barack Obama done, as opposed to claiming to have done?

teddyo: Your tongue in cheek comments aside, i do hope you will be present when Obama accepts the nomination. It will be great fun whether he wins or loses.

"...This longing for an emotion they never experienced, but feel they missed, is part of what brings them out in such numbers at his events..."

The author dismisses Obama's popularity as some sort of nostalgic longing for the past, implying that people who came of age in the 70's, 80's and 90's are just a bunch of 60's wannabes.

Mr. Alter, could you be any more condescending?

I, for one, have no wish to re-live or re-create the '60's, or the 70's, which is the era I came of age in. Those decades were divisive, violent, wasteful, and in many respects, counter-productive. They weren't nearly as wonderful as some people remember them to be.

I support Obama because I agree with his politics - I would have supported H. Clinton, Edwards, Richardson, or anyone else the democrats nominated - not because I see him as the reincarnation of Kennedy or King.

Kennedy and King were from a different time, and in their time, they had plenty of detractors, and made plenty of mistakes. I have no doubt that Obama will make plenty of mistakes.

But putting leaders on a pedestal is how we got into most of our mess in the first place.

Mr. Alter, you do Obama, and the rest of us, a disservice. Kennedy and King are dead and gone, as are the 60's. Let's let them rest in peace.

Jonathan, you made me vomit when you compared Obama to JFK and Rev King. Did you fall and hit your head on concrete which caused you to have this kind of bad thought. Obama wished he could be like both of these men but he will never have that greatness in him. How did Obama happen to pick Dr Kings "I have a dream" anniversary date as the date to give his acceptance speech. Can't you see that Obama wants to be a movie star(actor). Can you not see the fakeness in his smile and the fake body language. Can the American people not see the fakeness in Obama. You think you have it bad now just think what will happen if we happen to be so unlucky to have Obama as our president. Obama is so unbelieveable and so immature in politics that I would vote for Howdy Doody before I would vote for Obama. America WAKE UP before it's to late. McCain is definately a better choice.

From the moment of Obama's first announcement of his candidacy from Lincoln's steps in Springfield, Illinois it has been clear that he pays great attention to symbolic places. The German government is currently wrangling with Obama's demand to speak (like John F. Kennedy) before the historical Brandenburg Gate at Berlin at the end of this month. Foreign minister Steinmeier agrees, but Chancellor Merkel still refuses.

The Orwellian doublespeak that Obama spews in portraying himself as "a uniter" and someone who "will bring this country together" is the polar opposite of everything this man has said and done and would be laughable if it were not so deadly serious.

Obama probably did not think about the presidential office possibility when he wrote the book "Dreams From My Father" as it is laden with racist categorizations. Obama catagorizes people according to skin tone, as some are olive, pale, walnut, etc. Almost to the point of being laughable, if it was not so pathetic and scary.

Party Poopers! You all are jealous.

As a life long democrat I am trying to warm up to Obama, but his arrogance and symbolism is shocking. We need substance! His stated policies are pretty good, but he has not provided sufficient evidence that he can deliver on them. This grandiose speech and comparisons of Obama to JFK and MLK are inappropriate, since Obama hasn't proven much yet. I'm really anxious about this candidate. He is a brilliant orator and politician, but where is the competence?

The greater they are portrayed by the U.S. mainstream media, the more evil and dishonest they are. That's just how it is. Every U.S. presidential term, regardless of party, the U.S. attacks another country and U.S. citizens lose more fundamental freedoms. Like clockwork. It's always the same, has been for about 100 years. If a candidate has a lot of support in the media, and the media want to pretend that the candidate "evokes the memories of" or is otherwise the same as Kennedy/King and other media-manufactured fake historical heroes, it means the candidate is a lying psychopathic scumbag who will take away even more civil liberties and lead America on another wave of violent conquests using false pretenses, scare tactics and false flag attacks to justify it. America's media is owned by the same elite minority who own the major political parties and the companies that make the weapons and build the prison, and this elite minority benefits while the majority suffers.

What snide tripe this article is... I think it iss pretty noble that Obama is choosing to accept the Democratic Nomination in front of the poeple who gave it to him - the same people who will make him President. He promised to make this a campaign of the people... He is simply fuliflling his promise. To assert he ha ulterior motives is absurd.