Eyes on a Different Prize

I'm convinced that with Obama and the Democrats (as with most politicians, to be honest), the key is to watch what they DO, not what they SAY so much.

For most Americans right now, they would hope that leaders in government would 'keep their eyes on the prize' - the prize to us being the priority of getting the economy moving and job creation geared up (which generally means getting off the back of the private sector so companies can find ways to create jobs and the innovation that spurs job creation).

To Obama and Democrat leaders, however, their eyes are on a different prize - their 'prize' is to take command of huge swaths of the economy not only for now but to make that control a permanent feature of American life and society. That's a big reason why they pushed and maneuvered so hard to get the Health Control Disaster Bill passed - in spite of the political hit it appeared they would and have taken. It's about power. It's about control. It's NOT about economic growth - despite their words to the contrary.

What's the evidence for this? Well, there are many evidences, but I'll give one here that I watched closely because it impacts on my profession and interest area (technology in medicine). Remember the ridiculously named "American Reinvestment and Recovery Act" of a year ago? That was also nicknamed the "stimulus" bill where about a trillion dollars were spent (i.e. mostly borrowed) with the purported purpose of stimulating the economy and job creation.

As part of that act, there was the separately named HITECH section of the act. This designated over $30 billion to be applied to speed the adoption of computerized records technology in the U.S. - it was also sold as part of the stimulus bill to create jobs and economic activity.

Only one problem: of the over $30 billion, only about $2 billion was supposed to be spent in 2009-10, which is the time frame we needed to get the economy and job creation going. The rest was DESIGNATED TO BE SPENT FROM 2011-2015! Think about that! It was NOT about creating jobs and getting us past the recession. It WAS/IS about extending federal influence and control over another area of the economy and healthcare. That's what I mean - watch their actions and you will see that Obama and the Democrats eyes are on a different prize than us...and it's disturbing to say the least.