The Great Game is Greater than you are likely aware. That's why Obama, wisely or unwisely, has chosen not to hit it head-on, and why he knocked the employer-based reform out of the park in his speech by labelling "right-wing," rather than targeting the obvious right wing objectors and insulting them directly. The modern "right wing" (as in psuedo-fascists) are entirely in agreement with that avoidance. Libertarians, if they count as "right-wing," would not be.

Don't get me wrong, I support "the Obama plan" (which I define as the anticpated final iteration of HR 3200.) Not that my Congressman cares what I think. I just had unrealistic expectations growing. A naive audacity of hope spinnng out of control. I had hoped for creativity with backbone. Yes, I think HR 3200 is ineffectual, and, in fact, stupid, but no worse than the status quo. It's better in that it will expand coverage availability and they will be measuring and focused on that goal, unlike the past. But HR 3200 is really just the forward momentum of the federal bureaucracy amidst the status quo snafu.

Medicare benefits will be diminished gradually, physician independence and patient autonomy will be negatively impacted somewhat (whcih point is where WHO DOES credit the US with world superiority), but that was an inevitable result of spiralling costs.

It is what it is and probably as it must be - inexorable progress.

Good luck to us all.