Tangible Progress

Like a little socialist butterfly, I find myself fluttering from blog to blog, “defending” Obama. Let me make something clear from the outset: I didn’t vote for Obama, I still do not plan to vote for him in 2012, I did not donate a dollar to him, I don’t even like most of his decisions. That said, I like Obama much better than Bush.

Where is all the hostility directed at Obama coming from? Was America in a stupid-induced coma between 2001 and 2009? Is it leftover rage from the Bush years that people are unable to intellectually separate from the current administration?

Don’t get me wrong, not only “can” you criticize the guy (first amendment…), there are plenty of issues which one could justifiably criticize him for. But where is this vitriolic hatred for the guy (much of it manifested before he even took office) coming from?

I can’t relate to most people’s complaints about the guy. I thought healthcare reform didn’t go nearly far enough and I am dumbfounded at his inability to fulfill simple promises he made that would require little more than a firmly worded memo.

So imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning to two pieces of good news. First, insurance companies are going to be mandated by law to spend at least 80 cents of every dollar (85 cents for large-group plans) in premiums on actual medical care (rather than “administrative costs,” i.e. their pockets).

That wasn’t even the best news of the morning (though perhaps it was simply made bitter by the fact that insurance companies are already looking for loopholes). The best news this morning is that Obama decided to finally flex some federal muscle in forcing hospitals that accept Medicaid and Medicare funding to allow homosexual partner visitation privileges.

This has been one of the more heart-wrenching issues in the struggle for gay rights. People were literally dying alone as their partners are forced to sit in waiting rooms. Not only do family-only visitation rights affect homosexuals, it affected childless widows/widowers and unmarried clergy. This sort of thing happens too often, and it is one of the single greatest injustices endured by homosexual couples in America.

If gays are never allowed to serve in the military, I think most people could care less. Steps like this would have never occurred under Bush or any Republican. These little victories prevent me from harboring an irrational hatred for Obama. I would prefer to live in a country without a Democrat or Republican at the helm, but I think it’s better to be wandering lost at sea under a Democrat than to run aground on a reef under a Republican.