Not "How"...but "Should we"

The Mopper-in-Chief was in San Francisco with Nancy Pelosi yesterday and was baiting his critics with comments like these: "I'm busy. Nancy's busy with her mop cleaning up somebody else's mess. We don't want somebody sitting back saying you're not holding the mop the right way.

"Why don't you grab a mop? Why don't you help clean up?”

Then Obama went on to ape his critics who say,
"You're not mopping fast enough," or “That’s a socialist mop.”

Then he challenges all the naysayers with, "Grab a mop! Let's get to work."

Hidden within his challenge is the real question. It isn’t, “How do we provide health care for everyone in America?” Instead, the real question is, “Should we provide health care for everyone in America?”

A significant minority of Americans feel that government should not be in the health care business. For some it is an ideological question of moving toward socialism.

For others it is a lack of confidence in government’s ability to pull it off.

For still others it is the cost associated with doing so.

And there is ample evidence that Washington is in way over its head here. Just yesterday the AMA launched a TV campaign because Medicare reimbursements are too low. And here in Illinois, the Kids First health care program is having trouble finding doctors to participate because the rates are too low and it take months to get reimbursed.

But few politicians are making the "Should we?" argument. Why? Because it can alienate them from the voters who love entitlements. It can appear to be cold-hearted.

This is a key problem for conservative voters. We want elected officials to speak the truth rather than go along with the crowd. A few GOP proposals deal with sensible reform like tort limits and cross-state plan availability. They even suggest some reforms to provide coverage for the unemployed or poor.

But no one is going up against Obama on philosophical grounds. And that’s a shame.

(PS- The photo is from the SEIU program where candidates spend a day with an SEIU working person. Note that the mop is dry and there's no soap. I thought it was an appropriate photo.)