It's times for certain ideologues to remove their heads from the sunless place they occupy. What the good ole blue dog is proposing in health care Nirvana. To oppose it because we are too far down the line is nuts. The only line we are too far down is one leading to oblivion. This has always been the most sensible, and direct, road to universal coverage and ultimately single payer.

As a long standing observer of this problem, I am a bit confused by the claims that Medicare is too cheap. Back when Medicaid first starting to bloom, up-state New Yorkers were aghast at the "outrageous" fees schedules pegged to NYC. But that was 40 years ago in another time and place, and, I guess, another Universe. I know there is a difference between Medicaid and Medicare but when did expenses outside the major metropolitan areas get more expensive than in the cities?

(I think I earned my spurs on this when as a Democratic Candidate for State Senate. I opposed cutting-off working poor from Medicaid and predicted it would lead to a rise in medical costs because desperate working poor would go on Medicaid to get medical services. My prediction was born out later.

(I owed my prescience to material developed by RFK's Senate Office. A week before he was assassinated, I declined a request to endorse HHH by HHH's upstate campaign manager.)

http://johnklotz.blogspot.com

Having been excoriated as a "communist" and abandoned by my community for supporting mixed housing, I guess I have given the impression, on occasion, of being "left wing." But after reading the comments in Salon today, I guess I will never make the grade. It is of course a valid exercise of free speech for people like Glen Greenwald and the never elected dog-catcher Robrt Reich to keep nipping at Obama's heels. Not only have they never been elected, but they never have had the responsibility that comes when your opinion really counts for more than blather.

The Nobel citation mentioned two items, one of which I have a little experience on: Obama's plain commitment to stop nuclear proliferation, including nuclear disarmament of the United States.

This is an epic change in American policy. In 1997, I was an observer for Sierra Club at a meeting of the UN's Prepcom on the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. Because I was there for the Sierra Club, Bill Richardson granted us an audience which included not just me, but a dozen or so other ant-nuclear activist from around the world.

Richardson brought in a State Department "expert" who when it came to nuclear disarmament was well versed in what I call "Kissinger-speak." Nuclear disarmament was a bad thing because it would be "destabilizing."

Words have power, and when it comes to both Moslem-Christian relationships and nuclear disarmament, Obama's words have had a powerful effect already. And, oh yes, there's the Palestinian question.

The world community recognizes the incredible force his words and actions have had to date. I am not surprised that the Republicans are choking on his Nobel, I am dismayed, and frankly irate, at the dismissive nature of the left wing.

Maybe I shouldn't be. After all, at the same time the right was calling me a "communist," the Marxists in my community, who were in fact a faction in the local Reform Democratic Club, thought I was an infilltrator from the FBI.

I hope Obama takes some solace from my experience. When both sides are shooting at you, you are probably in the right place.

http://johnklotz.blogspot.com

History is a little more complex than some, including Joan, want to admit.

First: No, Bill Clinton is not a racist, but yes, his invoking of Jesse Jackson after South Carolina was a cynical attempt to manipulate he Florida primary vote that followed South Carolina. The antipathy of Jewish voters, particularly older ones, to Jesse Jackson had a long history. Clinton, a very shrewd politician knew hat. The tying of Obama to Jackson was a smart, but treacherous, maneuver.

Second: Remember NAFTA and most favored nation treatment for China? Remember Al Gore carrying the Clinton coals in the debate withy Ross Perot who predicted "a joint sucking sound" as American jobs were drawn over seas. Remember the way the media and the Clinton administration mocked him.

Third, lest we forget, the regulatory freeing of Wall Street from "out-moded" regulations like the Glass-Segal act, was also a pert of the Clinton Administration agenda. BUT

Fourth, Clinton is absolutely right about the vast right=wing conspiracy. Only thing is, it's much older than publicized.

Some have already remarked that the vitriol now present in our politics reminds them of the JFK years. That vitriol had a history that dated back at least to the end of WWII and what became known as the "China Lobby" that birthed Joe McCarthy and Roy Cohn.

Honor Bill Clinton for his real accomplishments. Rue that, like Nixon, he gave his enemies a sword. Pray that only person on earth that Barak Obama really fears, is Michelle.

http://johnklotz.blogspot.com