Opening Thoughts for July 20

It's Monday, July 20, 2009, the 40th anniversary of the day that men first walked on the moon, and six months to the day since America began experiencing the Obama Hopey-Changey Transformation.

Perhaps our best days are behind us, but let's hope not.

A few observations about some things in the news:

First, you have to understand why the Obama Administration, led by the president himself, is pushing so hard to have ObamaCare passed by the end of next week, when Congress goes on its August recess. They have no choice. Once the American people realize the particulars of this plan, the pressure will be turned up on members of Congress to vote against it, and that will doom it. Also, the various groups that have reluctantly "endorsed" ObamaCare, most of them bought off with promises of how they will get some new favored treatment, will realize that the White House has no intention of keeping all of its promises. It can't, because they contradict one another.

The latest example of this is the AMA, whose membership a month or so back opposed ObamaCare, but then reversed its stance when it was promised that the government would terminate its work with MedPAC, an independent group that labors to lower Medicare reimbursement. However, on Sunday the HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told "Meet the Press" that the president hopes to work even more with MedPAC, which will no doubt severely disappoint the physicians who are sick to death of the government's inability to pay Medicare bills at a reasonable price.

The White House has hinted that none of its agreements with the various health groups are binding, once ObamaCare becomes the 800-pound gorilla in the health care field. With Washington, D.C. becoming littered with the debris of broken Obama promises, why would anyone in their right mind trust these guys?

Second, it would be uproariously funny if not such a sick sign of the times in terms of federal spending. The Drudge Report today focuses on various postings at "Recovery.gov" which show exhorbitant sums of money being spent for things like "ham, cheese, and a broken government dumbwaiter." It got Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack so knotted up that he issued a statement defending his ham purchases, only to reveal that he spent $1.50 per pound for meat that you could buy at a Food Lion store for 79 cents.

And government is going to cut health care costs by getting in on the action?

Since when has government ever been efficient at doing anything (except maybe nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki)?