Health Care Passes

After spending the better part of the year negotiating with absent Republicans while antediluvian senators of his own party wrote a Republican bill that should make insurers ecstatic and richer than they already are, Obama won passage of his "historic" healthcare reform.  Obama himself is an historic figure; it is too bad that his policies are more in keeping with his rhetoric than with his essence.  That is to say that the man who challenged history and the deep biases of American society was exceptional for his courage, his presence and drive.  It turns out that whatever substance his words possess came from his being--the way they do from any solid writer or speaker--not from his policies, which are cautious, bland, and half-assed.  If the man wants an historic presidency, he needs to develop policies that are based on fundamental principles that are not conveniently betrayed at every turn, so that the end product, if there is an end product, has all the appeal and value of a spam on twinkie sandwich.