On my less naïve days, there are a few rules I try not to forget, usually leading with the most important truism of ’em all: politics rarely makes sense.
That said, Bush’s latest campaign foray into health care seems to be a direct affront to common sense. Bush’s record on the issue is abysmal and his proposed agenda on health care in a second term fits somewhere between a joke and an insult. For him to go on the offensive on this issue, as he did yesterday, invites the one thing Bush can’t withstand: an actual policy discussion on an issue he’s terribly weak on.
As a matter of policy, Bush should want to avoid emphasizing this at all costs. Since Bush took office, Americans are paying more for health care and getting less. Costs are skyrocketing, as are the number of uninsured. After four years of negligence, Bush unveiled a health care plan to expand access to insurance, but no one believes it’d do little more than dent the broader crisis, if it did anything positive at all.
And yet, there was Bush yesterday, bringing up health care as a central campaign issue. The only part of this that makes sense is Bush’s decision to rely on the tried-and-true method he uses every time he’s in a jam: describe Kerry’s plan and blatantly lie about it.
“On healthcare, President Bush and our leaders in Congress have a practical plan: Allow small businesses to join together to get lower insurance rates big companies get. Stop frivolous lawsuits against doctors. Health coverage you can take with you.
The liberals in Congress and Kerry’s plan: Washington bureaucrats in control; a government-run healthcare plan; $1.5-trillion price tag. Big government in charge. Not you. Not your doctor.”
No wonder he’s willing to go on the offensive; Bush couldn’t be any more dishonest if he tried.
Sure, “government-run health care” is a right-wing boogeyman, rolled out to scare voters anytime the issue comes up. It’s demagoguery, plain and simple. Kerry’s plan emphasizes tax credits and expanding access to existing insurance plans. It, of course, does absolutely nothing to put “Washington bureaucrats in control” — a fact that Bush, or at least his literate aides, must realize — and yet it’s quickly become a standard talking point for the Bush campaign.
Desperate campaigns lie and it’s pathetic to see how reckless Bush has become with the facts. The president is playing the public for fools and, like most con men, he expects to get away with it.
Will he? As a political matter, I think I understand the two-pronged logic from BC04. First, for voters who don’t know better, merely mentioning the issue is enough. (“I heard Bush talking about health care, so he must not be too bad on the subject.”) Second, Bush is obviously moving on to domestic issues because he believes he’s sufficiently wrapped up national security.
But if this race actually shifts into a discussion over which candidate is better able to deal with health care in this country, Bush is in trouble. As Paul Krugman recently put it:
The difference couldn’t be starker. Mr. Kerry offers a health care plan that would extend coverage to most of those now uninsured, paid for by rolling back tax cuts for those with incomes over $200,000. President Bush offers a tax credit that would extend coverage to fewer than 5 percent of the uninsured, plus a new tax break for the affluent that would actually increase the number of uninsured…. I don’t see how Mr. Bush can win this debate.
He can’t, which is why I think it’s an interesting gamble to raise the issue in the first place. Jonathan Cohn, an editor at The New Republic and a fellow at the Kaiser Family Foundation, recently expressed some frustration over the lack attention on this issue.
If his plan succeeds, Kerry will have given health insurance to middle class and poor Americans by taking back tax breaks from millionaires — a pretty good deal. Not that anybody has noticed. Despite Kerry’s repeated attempts to showcase his plan, and its apparent advantages over President Bush’s approach, the press has barely covered it. Some incumbents have all the luck.
True, except now that same incumbent is bringing the issue to the forefront. That’s quite a risk. An honest debate about the flaws in the existing health care system and the candidates’ proposals to fix these flaws will benefit Kerry every time. It’s not even close.
Now, if we can only have an honest debate…