Well, this plus the post that you wrote about how McCain and Obama are similar is starting to develop a picture of what the screwed up narrative of the fall maybe. Whereas, in 2000, the shift was about how both candidates were really moderate (compassionate conservatism), this year the idealogical shift produces a different tact.

Everyone senses that the American electorate's pendulum is swinging toward progressivism. Rather than admitting that one candidate is not progressive, and, one is, and, therefore, be accused of "bias," They are once again splitting the difference. They are the same because they are both "progressive"in some way.

Incidentally, I've seen other reports like this on AOL, for example, in which conservative historians are saying that by all indicators McCain should lose, but "he's not like other conservatives" so this gives him a shot. They are rebranding "maverick"to bring it closer to where the Democrats are. A kind of reverse triangulation, but without substantive policy shifts.

Klein writes:

It's a reform plan that advances the interests of healthy and the well-off while harming the ill and the economically vulnerable.

This is such demagoguery that Klein should seriously be disqualified from further commentary on health care.

My wife and I have three children under three, are artists, and are as middle class as one can get. We, like everyone, are mostly healthy and sometimes sick. Same goes for our children.

We have a high-deductible medical plan with an HSA. McCain's plan is to encourage more people to deal with medical care like people used to deal with medical care — pay out of pocket for routine care and save up for expensive care, if needed.

The market effects of this on a wide scale are predictably beneficial from the point of view of costs and competition (the two being interrelated of course).

To call this an approach for the wealthy and well-off is simply a lie. We are neither, and we are thrilled to have this insurance (after several years of no medical insurance followed by several years of a Cadillac-level employer-provided medical insurance).

People taking responsibility for their welfare is a gift of a free country built upon liberty. We discard this opportunity at our own peril.

It does take a certain level of maturity to see this, however. I myself wouldn't have understood the merits of McCain's approach until I had children, and owned a house.

Perhaps when Mr Klein grows up to have some responsibilities of his own, beyond himself and his high scores on video games and his preening for MSM television, this might become apparent.

kind regards,
Matthew Dallman

Is McCain partly right, though, that a big problem in health care and substantial reason for cost growth is that individual consumers pay too small a share these days. That seems to be what Obama's new economics czar, Jason Furman believes. Furman wants to limit out of pocket costs and especiallyt to protect the poor and chronically ill, but am I right that the underlying diagnosis is the same?

Ah, the frustration with McCain v. Obama on health care reform begins... this will be the first in a series of reminders of a post I wrote in February. Eyes wide open, folks.

I'm saying this now, because the outcome in the fall seems eerily predictable. National security and the economy, fairly or unfairly, are issues that Republicans have had a historical advantage. I think the last two Presidential administrations make it possible for the Dems to end up winning on both of these issues, but long-time impressions are hard to overcome. Conversely, health care is an issue the Dems should win. But as I said when McCain's plan first came out, he has just enough to his plan to provide him the right soundbites backed with just enough substance, that he will be able to neutralize Obama or Clinton on health care. And when many on this side will be wildly perplexed and frustrated with that outcome-- just remember this post. The Democrats didn't provide solutions to health care that addressed the concerns of the majority of the American electorate. Instead, the exploited their concerns on health care to push their own agenda, namely UHC and a public option. There's a lot more to health care reform, and unfortunately the Democratic candidates (big 3) ignored those to satisfy folks like Ezra, who has similarly ignored the concerns of most Americans on health care.

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=02&year=2008&base_name=mccain_and_experience#comment-6158149

People taking responsibility for their welfare is a gift of a free country built upon liberty.

"...under the majestic equality of the laws, which forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets and to steal bread."