Franklin Delano Obama - NYTimes

[rndmprsn]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/opinion/01Kristof.html?ref=opinion



Most presidents are tacticians, but President Obama is a strategist. His budget suggests that he aspires to be an echo of Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, harnessing his charisma, vision and political capital to transport America to a different place...

The best measure of that is Mr. Obama’s “down payment” to move closer to universal health coverage from womb to tomb. That is something that Roosevelt also sought, a lifetime ago.

The absurd system of health coverage we now have is a historical accident from World War II. Because of wage controls, employers competed for workers by offering health insurance as a fringe benefit — and so we’re stuck today with a system in which the loss of a job is compounded by the loss of health insurance...

...Not surprisingly, Mrs. Morse fervently hopes that Mr. Obama will be able to move the country toward a national health care system. If he can lead us there, even gradually, he has a chance to join the pantheon of truly great presidents like F.D.R. himself.

[Doremus]

1. Good statistics to remember & repeat often. nt