As I type up this post (about 4PM on Wednesday afternoon), there is information around that President Obama intends to press on with a government run insurance option in his speech to Congress tonight (Wednesday night). According to a report from the Wall Street Journal [article link], President Obama will reinterate his support for the public option to compete with private insurers. The report states that there the option "...will not provide a level of subsidies that give it an unfair advantage over private insurers." President Obama intends to press for this government option despite fervent public outcry about the government getting into the healthcare business.

I'm simply at a loss to understand Obama's thinking. His approval numbers are sinking as a direct result of his stance on healthcare reform. Disapproval of his healthcare initiative is rising. Yet, he intends to press onward into the "valley of death" known as government run healthcare. Whether the government will or will not be involved in the healthcare of private citizens is not the major issue. The major issue is how is the government going to pay for all of this? Savings on Medicare (and they do intend to rip apart Medicare) will not pay for this boondoggle. So, how do they do it? A tax increase on the middle class is the only way it is going to happen. The Obama Administration has hinted at this in recent weeks. But, when push comes to shove, they deny it. All President Obama has to do is look back on another president who went back on his word, George "read my lips, no new taxes" Bush. How did that work out for him? He was a one-term president.
There is a lesson there somewhere for President Obama.