A lot of liberals are pissed off at Barack Bush's flunky Robert Gibbs for comments he recently made in an interview in The Hill. I'm pissed off, but at a different part than most liberals seem to be. (part that pissed me off bolded)

“I hear these people saying he’s like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested,” Gibbs said. “I mean, it’s crazy.”

The press secretary dismissed the “professional left” in terms very similar to those used by their opponents on the ideological right, saying, “They will be satisfied when we have Canadian healthcare and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon. That’s not reality.”

If the almighty Gibbs doesn't like liberals like me comparing President Obama to George W. Bush, then he should tell his boss to stop governing with the Bush policies the overwhelming majority of the time. The "professional left" thing sounds cool. It would be great to make a living doing this, but that's about as likely to happen as Gibbs showing any humility. Whatever.

The thing that is so disgusting to me is that Gibbs treats getting single payer healthcare as being as unreasonable as abolishing the entire military. Let's talk about why Canadian style healthcare is not a fact of life in this country.

It certainly isn't because of a lack of popularity for single payer. Medicare for all consistently polls at 65-70 % popularity in the polls. A plan with a public option generally falls in the low 60s, while Obama's Wealthcare Plan for the HMOs and health insurers doesn't even have majority support in this country. Why should a GOP style money grab for the rich at the expense of the economic wellbeing and health of the middle class, the poor, and the elderly be popular?

The failure to pass real healthcare reform (i.e. single payer or a national health system like the one in Britain) certainly isn't due to a lack of effort on the part of doctors, nurses, and activists who don't work in the industry. The effort definitely has been there.

The reasons why we don't have Medicare for all is that there are too many bought politicians like Barack Bush in DC and the corporate media propagandize too overwhelmingly on behalf of HMO/health insurer interests.

Government health insurance is the will of the people, yet Robert Gibbs and Barack Bush act like the vast majority people of this country are annoying gnats to be swatted away on behalf of wealthy donors. Robert Gibbs also recently made a splash by saying that the Democrats could lose the House. Well, failure to pass healthcare reform is one of the main reasons why.

Photo: Robert Huffstutter