Obamacare at two--Obama's basic disregard for life

Obamacare at two

by Scott Johnson in Obamacare

Democrats observed the second anniversary of Obamacare in silence yesterday. Obamacare must really be a problem for them, because they’re yakking nonstop about everything else with a lower than usual ratio of veracity to baloney. Charles Krauthammer provides a reckoning in his weekly column, reminding us of a a few basic and important facts about Obamacare. Krauthammer concludes: “Rarely has one law so exemplified the worst of the Leviathan state — grotesque cost, questionable constitutionality and arbitrary bureaucratic coerciveness.” With the regulations implementing the law being written and promulgated every day, it’s getting worse all the time. The 2012 elections provide a possible cure. We are going to have to rescue ourselves from this nightmare.

Rush Limbaugh performed a public service this week by turning attention back to one of the great moments in Obama’s promotion of his signature achievement. Just about everything Obama ever said to promote the law was a falsehood of the Big Lie variety, but during the ABC Townhall on June 23, 2009 (transcript at the link), he blurted out something like the essence of Obamacare. Citizen Jane humbly asked her president:

JANE STURM: My mother is now over 105. But at 100, the doctors said to her, “I can’t do anything more unless you have a pacemaker.” I said, “Go for it.” She said, “Go for it.” But the specialist said, “No, she’s too old.”

But when the other specialist saw her and saw her joy of life, he said, “I’m going for it.” That was over five years ago. … Outside the medical criteria for prolonging life for somebody who is elderly, is there any consideration that can be given for a certain spirit, a certain joy of living, a quality of life, or is it just a medical cutoff at a certain age?

In case you missed it back in 2009, here is how the president ruled:

OBAMA: I don’t think that we can make judgments based on people’s “spirit.” Uh, that’d be, uh, a pretty subjective decision to be making. I think we have to have rules that say that we are gonna provide good quality care for all people. End-of-life care is one of the most difficult sets of decisions that we’re gonna have to make. But understand that those decisions are already being made in one way or the other. If they’re not being made under Medicare and Medicaid, they’re being made by private insurers. At least we can let doctors, you know — and your mom know — that, you know what, maybe this isn’t gonna help. Maybe you’re better off not having the surgery but, uh, taking the painkiller.

Well, that’s a little blunt. Rush nevertheless provided a useful translation: “Hey, Mom, I just talked to the president. He said no on the pacemaker. But I’m to tell you that you’re probably better off not getting the pacemaker. Here, just take the Percocet.” He also concisely commented: “I don’t know, folks. This is not the country in which I grew up. It just isn’t.”

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/03/obamacare-at-two.php