Some patently absurd claims have been made in the wake of health care's passage, but New York Times writer Thomas Friedman and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are tied for First Place.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is campaigning in Nevada for re-election and continues to tout the health care law. He recently said, “The most important thing we've done for the country and the world is health care.”
Last month, Friedman posited that passage of the health care law strengthened President Obama’s hand in foreign policy:
“Our enemies surely noticed, too. You don’t have to be Machiavelli to believe that the leaders of Iran and Venezuela shared the barely disguised Republican hope that health care would fail and, therefore, Obama’s whole political agenda would be stalled and, therefore, his presidency enfeebled. He would then be a lame duck for the next three years and America would be a lame power.”
Yes, because I’m sure our health care system is an issue very dear to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
A majority of Americans stood opposed to the law. More than 20 states have joined in a lawsuit against the federal government challenging the law, with particular emphasis on the individual mandate. And polls continue to show no improvement in public opinion of the health care law.
In this country we don’t pass life-changing domestic legislation so that a president may convey political strength overseas.
With that said, it’s highly doubtful that the legislation had the impact Friedman suggests.
Fidel Castro applauded the health care law as “a miracle.” Castro also said, “It is really incredible that 234 years after the Declaration of Independence ... the government of that country has approved medical attention for the majority of its citizens, something that Cuba was able to do half a century ago.”
Here are some recent pictures smuggled out of Cuba highlighting that medical attention Cubans receive.
After praising passage of health care, Castro then attacked President Obama as a “fanatic believer in capitalist imperialism.”
The goodwill didn’t last long.
Now the World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan just returned from North Korea with words of admiration for their health care system. Apparently North Korea does an excellent job of keeping its citizens thin.
“They have something which most other developing countries would envy,” said Chan.
Who would have thought?
Then again, most of the world has been praising Cuba’s health care system for the last 40 years.
At any rate, the point here is that we should not decide health care policy in the US based on the misguided perceptions of our system by other countries. And we should most definitely not use domestic policy as a means of strengthening our influence on foreign policy matters.
Senator Reid and Thomas Friedman ought to know better.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is campaigning in Nevada for re-election and continues to tout the health care law. He recently said, “The most important thing we've done for the country and the world is health care.”
Last month, Friedman posited that passage of the health care law strengthened President Obama’s hand in foreign policy:
“Our enemies surely noticed, too. You don’t have to be Machiavelli to believe that the leaders of Iran and Venezuela shared the barely disguised Republican hope that health care would fail and, therefore, Obama’s whole political agenda would be stalled and, therefore, his presidency enfeebled. He would then be a lame duck for the next three years and America would be a lame power.”
Yes, because I’m sure our health care system is an issue very dear to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
A majority of Americans stood opposed to the law. More than 20 states have joined in a lawsuit against the federal government challenging the law, with particular emphasis on the individual mandate. And polls continue to show no improvement in public opinion of the health care law.
In this country we don’t pass life-changing domestic legislation so that a president may convey political strength overseas.
With that said, it’s highly doubtful that the legislation had the impact Friedman suggests.
Fidel Castro applauded the health care law as “a miracle.” Castro also said, “It is really incredible that 234 years after the Declaration of Independence ... the government of that country has approved medical attention for the majority of its citizens, something that Cuba was able to do half a century ago.”
Here are some recent pictures smuggled out of Cuba highlighting that medical attention Cubans receive.
After praising passage of health care, Castro then attacked President Obama as a “fanatic believer in capitalist imperialism.”
The goodwill didn’t last long.
Now the World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan just returned from North Korea with words of admiration for their health care system. Apparently North Korea does an excellent job of keeping its citizens thin.
“They have something which most other developing countries would envy,” said Chan.
Who would have thought?
Then again, most of the world has been praising Cuba’s health care system for the last 40 years.
At any rate, the point here is that we should not decide health care policy in the US based on the misguided perceptions of our system by other countries. And we should most definitely not use domestic policy as a means of strengthening our influence on foreign policy matters.
Senator Reid and Thomas Friedman ought to know better.
