One of the things that has fascinated me is the unity of Democratic governors and pundits, who know that Armageddon may be coming Nov. 2 and must know that the administration’s health care reform is a disaster. Not just because people don’t like it-but because it’s an awful plan.
It would seem wiser to admit that the legislation was bad and try to move onto doing something about it-that, essentially, is what West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin, in a tough race, despite stratospheric approval ratings, is doing. Manchin has a gun-toting ad in which he promises to work to repeal parts of the PPACA. That may not be enough, but it seems less suicidal that pretending the act is just great.
The governor of Tennessee, Phil Bredesen, isn’t toeing the party line. Indeed, in a new book, Bredesen calls our new health care system a “stunning” disappointment.
Memphis’ The Daily News Blog reports:
[Bredesen’s] not saying he thinks [health care] reform doesn’t go far enough, a view held by some liberals and progressives who would like to expand the social safety net even beyond what the bill passed by Congress does.
Bredesen thinks it was a flat-out misguided bill, flawed from the get-go.
“The problem isn’t that we expanded coverage,” Bredesen writes in his new book “Fresh Medicine,” referring to the millions of uninsured and under-insured people who can now either buy insurance with the help of federal vouchers and the creation of state health exchanges.
“The problem was expanding coverage is about all we did.”
It’s “about all we did,” because Bredesen thinks that expanded entitlement saddles an already burdened federal government drowning in red ink with additional – and expensive – obligations.
And more bad news for health care reform supporters:
The book is actually pretty readable, which might come as a surprise considering the governor has a physics degree from Harvard and tends to get, shall we say, a little wonkish at times.
Hat tip to Daniel Foster of National Review’s The Corner.