Sometimes when men like Barack Obama are in control of the conversation, with the full-throated endrsement of the old-school media in tow, simple truths get missed.

Today in my home state, the president continued his nationwide tour touting his support for the Stalinization of the health care industry. In his prepared remarks, he said:

At the same time, if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health plan. If you like your doctor, you can keep seeing your doctor. I don’t want government bureaucrats meddling in your health care – but the point is, I don’t want insurance company bureaucrats meddling in your health care either.

So now the president is trying to save us from the “insurance company bureaucrats”? Um, Mr. President, I know you’re the savior of the world and our Nation’s salvation and all, but why don’t you just butt the hell out of the private business relationships we, as free citizens of the United States, have chosen to develop between ourselves.

And to in the same breath suggest that his plan would also keep the “government bureaucrats” out of our business is a complete fantasy. Know this: the president’s “public option” will mean a sure death to private health insurance in America. And here’s why:
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“Read my lips:  No New Taxes”

George H.W. Bush, August 18, 1988

” . . .what I’ve done throughout this campaign is to propose a net spending cut.”

Barack H. Obama, October 15 2008

The former ran as Ronald Reagan’s heir, but governed as if he were Richard Nixon’s.  The latter sounded a lot like Bill Clinton on the fall campaign trail, but acted like LBJ when he entered the White House.  It was as if, once elected their campaign pledges no longer meant anything.  Of course, it didn’t take as long for Mr. Obama’s to expire as it did for those of the elder Mr. Bush.

Each seemed to interpret his election victory not as a vindication for his campaign rhetoric, crafted over a period of time with political advisers in order to appeal to the American people, but as a personal victory, allowing him to do what he thought best for the country.

It’s as if the rhetoric used to win election mean nothing, the person everything.  The messenger seems to think the only message he bore was himself.

I think the unfortunate Mr. Rex had a word for that.

With each passing day, the wisdom of the greatest domestic policy President of the Twentieth Century becomes increasingly manifest.

A number of conservative blogs have posted this audio of Ronald Reagan  speaking out in 1961 against socialized medicine. At about the 2-minute mark, he describes the foot-in-the-door philosophy of a Congressman Furan, then proposing health care reform legislation, “If we can only break through and get our foot inside the door, then we can expand the program after that.”

A you consider that foot-in-the-door philosophy that neither President Obama nor any of his minions have disavowed the Democrat’s past advocacy of a single-payer system.

Welcome Instapundit Readers!  While you’re here you might want to check out my advice to the President on how he can improve the health care debate.

Our GayPatriot correspondent in San Francisco filed this report on the protest against Obamacare in the hometown of Nancy Pelosi and Ma’am Barbara Boxer:

It was organized by the Bay Area Patriots and included various speakers, a “moment of being silenced,” a “candlelight vigil” for our MIA senators, and a mock town hall.  I’m bad at judging the size of crowds, but I’d say there were about 300-350 people at its peak.  The crowd was spirited but civil and included 20-somethings (like me) to seniors.  It appeared that local media showed up, so it’ll be interesting to read what their spin will be.

There were only a couple of counterprotesters there, one (a woman probably in her late 20s) with a sign saying “Who would Jesus insure?” on one side and “Answer:  everyone” on the other.  During the “moment of being silenced” (some people put blue tape on their mouth), she was voicing her opinion, trying to goad retaliation from the crowd.  A few people responded, but the majority held their silence.

There were a couple of segments where people from the crowd were allowed to voice their opinions with the bullhorn – some of them were plugs for their various campaigns, while others got off topic with issues like voter fraud, the war in Afghanistan, etc.  But mostly they voiced their concern and frustration with the healthcare legislation.  The Bay Area Patriots passed out a form expressing opposition to the current form of the healthcare reform legislation, and they asked local and California-wide constituents to sign it and mail it to Ma’am Boxer, DiFi, or Princess Pelosi (or all if you make copies).

Here are some more of his photos:

One of the primary reasons the debate over health care reform has gotten out of control is that many (but, fortunately not all) Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media, have by and large focused on the most extreme antics of a handful of the protesters against increased federal involvement in our health care system, drawing our attention to the most hateful and juvenile of the signs at the various protests (while all but ignoring the same conduct from supporters of the President and Democratic plans to overhaul the system).

And these Democrats and pundits, in turn, hyperventilate how horrible, no good, hateful, very astroturfy we are, focusing on the angry rhetoric of a handful, ignoring the concerns of the multitude (which, if current polling trends are correct, reflect an emerging majority of Americans).

Their hyperventilating further debases the debate.

Today, AP, reverting to its fawning coverage of the President, began its article on his latest town hall, suggesting he was trying to change the tone of the debate, “Trying to lower the temperature of the health care fight, President Barack Obama on Friday denounced news media emphasis on angry protesters at town hall meetings.“   And, to be sure, in his civil response to the challenging questions he received yesterday in Belgrade, Montana, the President did take a step in the direction of “recalibrating” the debate.  But, it was only a step.  Still, it represents progress.

He should, however, have dropped the attempt to bait the Republicans by saying that, well, when they voted for the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act in 2003, so they really have no grounds to complain today that he’s proposing a vast and expensive new government bureaucracy with no way to pay for it (just as they did back then).

If Obama really wants to lower the temperature, he needs to mount the bully pulpit as only the President can do and make a plea for civil discourse while praising those of his critics, including many (if not most) Republican congressional critics and a number of pundits, notably Charles Krauthammer, who have expressed their concerns in a thoughtful manner.  And when he praises the angry voices, he would do well to note that they have come from both sides of the debate.

While he need not mention his fellow Democrats by name, he need, through his rhetoric, make clear he is addressing the hateful barbs tossed by some of the leading Democrats in both Houses of Congress — as well as the antics of their allied interest groups.

Should he do that, he would both increase his standing with the public and enhance his own credibility in the current debate.