Blogetary Track For The One About In Two Words Mr. Herbert, “You're wrong.”

You can read the original version of this article at The One About... (Holy epic picture fail Batman. I really could not find anything beyond the guys picture. I didn't want to use something to make him look stupid. I mean I disagree strongly with him, but he's not a blowhard idiot like Limbaugh, who I wouldn't care about ridiculing.)
Sometimes, when I read the opinions of some of my contemporaries I honestly have to wonder how they can be so blind. I'm not usually the sort to think that my opinion is the only possible correct one about most things, but as regards some things there are some opinions that frankly to me just make no sense.(I'm really not, but even before my mother in laws illness health care reform has been a big deal to me, and anybody claiming it should get a lower priority frankly doesn't make sense to me.)

A recent column in the New York Times by Bob Herbert is a perfect example of this. In the article Mr. Herbert opines that instead of focusing on healthcare reform,

We need to readjust our focus... put Americans trapped in this terrible employment crisis back to work and to put the brakes on your potentially disastrous plan to escalate the war in Afghanistan.

The thing is, that his opinion is not entirely wrong. (My fundamental problem with the jobs first people is that they apparently think we can still trust that the jobs we have (those of us that have a job) will pay enough to allow us to live decent lives. But in this day and age when jobs can disappear as if in a puff of smoke I think it's better to create a system that will assure people are taken care of regardless of whether they have a job or not.)Until it gets to the part where he thinks those two things are more pressing than making it so that everyone can get medical care without having to beggar themselves.

Reforming the chaotic and unfair health care system in the U.S. is an important issue. But in terms of pressing national priorities, the most important are the need to find solutions to a catastrophic employment environment that is devastating American families and to end the folly of an 8-year-old war that is both extremely debilitating and ultimately unwinnable.

The problem is that expecting healthcare reform to take a backseat while employment and our military adventurism in Afghanistan is dealt with is the equivalent of a person deciding to get a job, and make peace with that next door neighbor they've been feuding with, before they go to the doctor to get that odd lump looked at. Frankly they might very well be dead before they accomplish that.

And the employment and Afghanistan situation is even more complex than that.

To deal with the unemployment situation is quite frankly going to require a deep and fundamental change in the way American's think about work, and it's going to require efforts be made to reign in a pro business stance that cares more about the bottom line and profits than about people.

As far as Afghanistan goes, even if we do not escalate, the amount of effort it's going to take to truly disengage from that region is monumental. It can be done, but it will not be easy, especially with the Republicants doing everything in their power to monkey wrench such a disengagement.(Seriously, if I thought there was a hope in hell of us truly getting and staying out of Afghanistan then maybe I could see prioritizing that a little more highly, but Obama has sadly shown himself to be as much of a militaristic president as all of his predecessors.)

In the meantime people are dying every day because they cannot afford basic healthcare let alone the advanced version. This is something that has become even less abstract to me than it was in the past. My mother in law is currently dealing with a severe medical situation. Thankfully she is covered under Medicare or I don't know how we'd get her the help she needs. Prior to that she had fairly decent coverage through her job. But that is not the case for a great many of us. How many people are sick and in pain, and taking over the counter medication, hoping and praying that they can keep themselves well enough to not miss any work? How many people die every day because of a system that is so fucked up as to make us the laughingstock of the developed nations where healthcare is concerned?

Maybe Mr. Herbert is willing to wait. Many of us are not.

Keep The Faith My Brothers And Sisters!

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A Word, Mr. President