The Washington Wrongman

You've heard this before. It doesn't matter whether those of us who fancy ourselves politically informed are right or wrong when we pontificate. No one really pays close enough attention to remember, and certainly we don't. It's a great gig.

Well, I hope you're sitting down, because this pundit-wanna bee is about to utter something that would otherwise knock you off your feet: "I might have been wrong"

There. I said it. I feel much better now. Except I may end up being wrong about being wrong.

Right now you're probably asking yourself "What in heaven's name is he talking about?". It's a fair question and it deserves an answer. Finally.

This is about the Public Option and my prediction there was no way in the world the all-powerful insurance industry would allow its paid lackeys in Washington to enact one to compete with them and loosen their choke-hold on health care coverage. There was no way that they and their limitless money for "campaign contributions" and deceptive advertising would allow passage of a government alternative to its evil ways.

Well, they got cocky. Perhaps they overplayed their hand...with their HEAVY-handed attempt to frighten the White House and the Congressional negotiators. The Senate Finance Committee, remember, hadthe audacity to suggest a plan, MINUS that Public Option, mind you, that might make it more difficult for them to continue making their absurd profits for dismal performance.

So they had a temper tantrum, in the form of a shamelessly misleading study they released that was designed to misinformed the uninformed who once again terrorize the politicians as they were trying to come up with something or other they could label "Reform".

Unfortunately for them, their bullying may have been so blatant it may have backfired. It may have forced Congressional and administration leaders to show whatever spine they have.

There is new talk that there may be a Public Option after all, that the winds may have shifted, thanks to the insurance industry's blustering.

If that really happened that's where I would have been wrong. However that is a huge "If". This could be just a head game, where the guys in charge prove they're really not in charge as they wither under the barrage of deceptive accusations they're promoting a single-payer system or some other form of insidious socialism.

Never mind that we, in effect, have a single payer system, run by the profit bloated insurance companies. They are immune from any meaningful regulation, thanks to the finally-infamous McCarran-Ferguson Act, which has been with us for decades. It allows them to collude just about any way they want.

This time though their bullying may have been counter-productive. It's possible we may be seeing an uprising of the wimps. There's even talk of repealing McCarran-Ferguson, which I had also dismissed with an emphatic "No Way!!".

Could this have also become a "Way!"?, along with the Public Option? Could I have been wrong twice? And here's the biggest question: "Who cares?". What's important is not whether those of us on the outside watching health care maneuvers say the wrong things but whether those on the inside do the right thing.

Follow Bob Franken on Twitter: www.twitter.com/frankenb

Comments

[S1m0n]

This president is a counter-puncher. He sits back, keeps his powder dry, and waits for the opposition to overcommit. It drives his allies crazy, because they don't know what his bottom line looks like, or often what his top line might look like, but it appears to work.

Before long, the opposition really is crazy, or at least looks it as far as the public can determine. For a guy who's close to overexposed, it's funny how little we know about his actual priorities.

[unitron]

You may be underesimating the Democrats' ability to form a circular firing squad.