Firing Up

I'm loving that President Obama (writing that never gets old) is back in closer mode, just as he would do in the Democratic primaries and campaign when everyone thought he had somehow blown it. Pass that health care bill, D.C.!

And I love how Markos Moulitsas calls out self-righteous Dennis Kucinich for "making common cause" with the GOP in stating that he's voting against reform. Sure, it isn't pure enough. Sure, there's a mandate that will help insurance companies deal with having to take in the unhealthy as well. But he'll deserve to be primaried by Kos Nation.

I'll say it one last time, if there's no start, then there's no eventual reform of the reform, no building on the legislative landmark as with Social Security (which only covered like a third of Americans at the start), or my personal favorite, the Emancipation Proclamation, in which Lincoln freed the slaves "in the states in rebellion," i.e. The Confederacy where he wasn't currently in control, rather than the Union. However, it both set a benchmark to move up from, and also told the slaves that they would never be prosecuted in the North for checking out of the plantation without their sadistic master's permission.

And I'm LOVING White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs firing back at smug, whiny-ass Chief Justice John Roberts, the least distinguished Chief Justice in history, just taking dictation from The Federalist Society of corporatist Conservative ideologues in squeaking out asshole decisions like giving corporations the same rights as citizens, i.e. the right to use their untold billions to buy candidates. Roberts is one of the most dangerous men in America, a robot installed to lead our top court.

Ideally he's forced to step down in the middle of President Obama's second term.

And back to Barack (hey, that sounds like an album title!), he's clearly feeling it on the stump. I mean, he's got to be so fired up he's gotta be making shit up now on the stump. How else to explain his sudden embrace of the populist notion (although this is the first I've heard of it -- manufactured?) of having "high-tech bounty hunters" solve the healthcare fraud problem:

The White House released details of the anti-fraud plan hours after a fresh challenge to the administration from major business groups that unveiled a multimillion-dollar ad campaign arguing that under Obama's plan "health care costs will go even higher, making a bad economy worse."

The ad buy, costing between $4 million and $10 million, will start Wednesday on national cable TV outlets. Later in the week, the campaign shifts to 17 states home to moderate and conservative Democrats. Their votes are critical to Obama's endgame for passing legislation to expand coverage to millions who now lack it and revamp the health insurance system...

...The bounty hunters in this case would be private auditors armed with sophisticated computer programs to scan Medicare and Medicaid billing data for patterns of bogus claims. The auditors would get to keep part of any funds they recover for the government. The White House said a pilot program run by Medicare in California, New York and Texas recouped $900 million for taxpayers from 2005-2008.

Oh, yeah. America loves when Barack goes cowboy.

He's the Robert Downey President.