The Orbis

During fall break while I was home in Florida, I had the opportunity to see John Kerry speak about health care to an extremely enthusiastic crowd of supporters in a packed theatre at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. Kerry spent most of his time speaking about health care, while touching briefly on Iraq as well as the fiscal irresponsibility of the incumbent. I was pleased to see Kerry every bit as articulate and presidential in person as he proved to be in the debates.

The stage at the Kerry event was garnished with plants and banners that read “A Fresh Start for America.” Rightfully so as there isn’t anything America is more in need of. Kerry has pledged to cut the deficit in half in his first four years, and should his programs interfere with this goal, he has promised to defer them as necessary. Kerry said he wouldn’t hesitate in quickly “reaching across the aisle” to gain bipartisan support for improving health care.

While the president’s arrogant foreign policy and mismanagement of the “war on terror” are certainly alarming and very disconcerting, it’s important to remember what is going well at home. The president counters criticisms and statistics with lines like “it’s hard work liberating a country.” It should be no surprise that this same logic is applied to the deficit, net loss of jobs (the last president to see this happen was the great Herbert Hoover) and the 5 million more people without health insurance since Bush took office. You may hear people say, “Oh, well 9/11 was catastrophic, it’s not Bush’s fault.” It simply cannot work both ways; you can’t just continue to keep saying the economy is booming and flourishing while fending off criticisms with the 9/11 card. Quite frankly, I’m sick of seeing these games played by this administration.

Kerry said his action to improve the health care situation would be the allowance of imported drugs from Canada in an attempt to try to lower their costs. It’s worth noting that the White House has opposed this measure consistently. Can you say corporate interests? It’s also worth noting that premiums for families have increased by an average $3,500. Bush has already demonstrated his motives and priorities with regard to health care: take care of the big pharmaceuticals and HMO’s rather than the American people.

In 2000, the president made promises to increase health care’s affordability and availability. It’s no secret that those suffering from lack of health care are the middle and lower classes. I guess if these people had any sense at all, then they would have saved those enormous sums of the tax return checks that Bush asserted went to “those at the bottom of the economic ladder.”

In the third presidential debate, Kerry mentioned the serious problems the middle and lower classes face with regard to health care, costs that are out of control which simply kill job creation. Bush’s reply began by condensing Kerry’s comments as a “litany of complaints” as if to suggest that he should just “stop whining.” Is this the sort of attitude a president should have?

 “A fresh start” is exactly what America and the world needs. America needs a president whose health care plan isn’t “don’t get sick.” Most importantly, America needs a president who’s not going to gamble with the lives of our troops and the physical and economic health of this nation.

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