Thread: Obama and the irony of status quo

Robert J. Samuelson

Obama and the irony of status quo

NEWSWEEK
2:00 a.m. August 10, 2009

“The status quo is unsustainable for families, businesses and government.â€

One of the bewildering ironies of the health care debate is that President Barack Obama claims to be attacking the status quo when he's actually embracing it. Ever since Congress created Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, health politics has followed a simple logic: Expand benefits and talk about controlling costs. That's the status quo, and Obama faithfully adheres to it. While denouncing skyrocketing health spending, he would increase it by extending government health insurance to millions more Americans.

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