[One more attempt, sciencegeek, to get through to—well—Nobody.]

Because, Nobody, the American political system is not anywhere near as simple and "cut-and-dried" as you seem to think it is.

If President Obama had put forth a single-payer plan in the first place, ALL of the Republicans and, unfortunately, a substantial number of Democrats would have voted it down. The epithet, "Socialize Medicine" would have been the war-cry of the plan's opponents—as has been the case any time a similar plan has been put forward (and I can remember several attempts over the past decades)—and this would have sufficiently intimidated many Democrats into voting against it, fearful of what many of their constituents would think of their voting for ANY "Socialist" measure, just to keep themselves "safe" for the next election.

I did NOT say (as Nobody claims it did) that single-payer health care was the "goal" of the ACA. I said that it was a step in the right direction. To get to a single payer plan would require much, much more work than is involved in just the ACA.

Learn to read more carefully and be a lot more precise, Nobody.

Yes, I agree that someone is being fooled here. You are fool yourself into believing you know more about the subtleties and the ins-and-outs of the labyrinth of American politics than you think you do.

Don Firth