Tom Daschle says ...

8 Words of Wisdom for Week Ending 3/27/2009 #6

These critics are betting that the tactics they used to defeat the Clinton health plan will work again. As Bay Buchanan told the New York Times last month, " 'Socialized medicine' was a great argument for us."

Maybe it was. But it isn't anymore. In the early 1990s, these attacks succeeded because they resonated with Americans' doubts about whether major reform was necessary. Today, those doubts have dissipated.

Since 2000, health premiums have doubled, the number of uninsured has climbed by a million people each year, and our performance compared with the rest of the world has declined. With health-care costs dragging down our economy, blowing up our deficit and forcing thousands of families out of their homes, Americans are losing patience with arguments like "we can't make any changes or something really bad will happen."

Daschle will be accused of being unAmerican for bad mouthing the current system. Seriously. He will be scalped by the right for telling the truth. Fortunately, he's speaking for most Americans. We've reached a point where almost everyone realizes that we can't go forward until we fix this problem. It is a drag on our economy. It is a drag on the quality of life of so many Americans. How can we stand by and do nothing? Fortunately, it appears that we will move forward.

Universal Health Care will be the crowning progressive achievement of our time.

Source - The Washington Post