David Goldhill's now famous Atlantic piece makes a persuasive case against the public option and for a massive overhall of how healthcare delivery would be structured in the US.  I don't know whether is his a conservative or a liberal but his argument meets the goal of expanded coverage and cost control.  He doesn't scream, mention death panels or call anyone Hitler.  He confronts the perverse incentives that have driven up cost without any improvement in quality and supports mostly abolishing insurance companies.

I think the main reason the Democrat's health plan is failing has little to do with death panels, Hitler references or conservative wing-nuts.  They are small players.  The democratic plan doesn't clearly control costs and where it tries, it uses the government monopoly to reduce costs.  Medicare clearly solved the problem of universal coverage for Americans over 65, but it clearly didn't control costs despite being a monopoly.  Goldhill argues that the government actually increased costs.  I'm not so sure of that, but I do think no healthcare plan (public option or not)  will be popular with independents or people who actually try to understand the issues if cost controls are not clear.  Obama promised expanded access and cost controls.  To get a consensus he will have to deliver on both of those promises.  Goldhill's plan makes a plausible case for both, Obama's does not.
So all of you public option devotees, please make the case against Goldhill.  Oh, and by the way simply saying that the insurance lobby wouldn't allow it isn't enough.  That's the (less interesting) political case.  I'm interested in the philosophical case.  
Please be polite and thank you.

Can someone please tell me how McCain's campain suspension improved his election prospects?

He looks more partisan, not less. He gave Obama the chance to say that injecting presidential politics into Congressional policy debates is usually unhelpful.  This makes Obama seem deliberative and bi-partisan.

It focused media attention on McCain's weakness (the economy) and away from his strength (foreign affairs.)

His habit of random lurching from idea to (frequently opposite) idea is more prominent, not less.

He seems to want to either avoid debating Obama or avoid having Palin debate Biden.

He seems less inquisitive and knowledgeable about the economy than before.

He seems unable to multitask.

He seems old, churlish and slightly demented.

He really pissed off Letterman and gave Letterman an opening to bring up Metamucil and declining poll numbers.

How did this stunt help him?  How was it supposed to help him?  It is just me or does this seem like a colossal strategic screw up.  Did it rally some base somewhere?  Why would anyone in his right mind do this?  What happened to Schmidt's famous message control?  Who is running things over there?

The rapid exploitation of the McCain "house" gaffe is very reassuring.  The attack was targeted, simple and easy to understand.  Granted McCain made it pretty easy (God, he really IS too old for the job) but the Obama media machine came hard and fast.  For a while I was worried they either could not or would not.  They are now attacking.  They need to avoid the defense.  I hope it continues.

Thus far during the campaign,  McCain has said remarkable number of stupid things.  Obama is now beginning to exploit them.  I'm encouraged.  Are you?

The rapid exploitation of the McCain "house" gaffe is very reassuring.  The attack was targeted, simple and easy to understand.  Granted McCain made it pretty easy (God, he really IS too old for the job) but the Obama media machine came hard and fast.  For a while I was worried they either could not or would not.  They are now attacking.  They need to avoid the defense.  I hope it continues.

Thus far during the campaign,  McCain has said remarkable number of stupid things.  Obama is now beginning to exploit them.  I'm encouraged.  Are you?

I get the sense that Obama has lost a lot of ground over the last few weeks.  His response to the constant attacks has been tepid.  Polls show McCain closing in important states.  So here are my questions...

Is all lost?  Obama was impressive during the primary, but he hasn't responded to attacks quickly enough or forcefully enough.  Is he not up for negative campaigning?  He surely knew the Republican onslaught was coming.

McCain has made some gains, but only a few percentage points.  Less than I might have expected considering the media's hype.  Is McCain just picking up the lost parts of his base or getting new moderates.

Is the Obama campaign shoring up is ground organization and registering voters and not focusedon attack ads.  Is this their plan?  Is this a good plan?

Obama's response to McCain's attack posture has been really disappointing.  Too disappointing.  Almost deliberately disappointing.  He had such a clear strategy focus in July.  Did he just lose that in August or is there more going on?

Should I panic, accept that our guy can't win, or be patient and calm?

Don't tell me to send money.  I already do every month.

I am posting (for the first time) to find out why Obama isn't farther ahead of McCain in the national polls.  Nearly everyone I talk to, even McCain voters, admit that Obama is a better candidate.  His ideas are more sensible, his oratory is miles ahead, his strategy is stronger and his organization has no peer.  So why is it so close.  The popular answer is that a sizeable fraction of voters will not support him because he is black and that keeps the race close.  I'm not so sure.

I think Obama's problem is that he is too cold.

He is a poster child for American yuppie success.  Double Ivy educated, president of the Harvard Law Review, became a community organizer instead of souless corporate lawyer, ran for office in Illinois, impressed everyone and became a U.S. senator only to aim higher.  He beat the unbeatable Clinton machine and now has been out-fundraising, out-speech-giving, out-policy making and out-promoting his far more experienced oponent.

More than that he is ferociously disciplined.  He works out everyday, has (and actually seems to love)  a thin, pretty professional wife and two healthy daughters.  He has a little money from two books he wrote himself.  Nobody left him anythng in a will and he married into no money at all. 

He eats healthy and is polite to people even when they are impolite to him.  Other than youthful drug use, he seems to have no vices.  On top of that, the fact that he was abandoned by his black father at age 2 and raised by his white mother and grandparents seems to have no effect on his self confidence and ego.  It's intact and supported by a winning smile.

And this, I think, is his problem. 

Many, many people admire him, but I wonder how many actually like him or feel that he is human like they are.  I think that to the bulk of us with our 20 extra pouds, dull jobs, occasional Big Mac, inconsistent gym attendence, career disappointments and mediocre marriges, Obama just doesn't seem like a guy we can understand.  We wonder if he ever fights with Michelle or gets really mad and throws something.

I think that when most people sift through the choices for President, they don't think too much about policy.  I think they settle on the guy who seems most like themselves and go with him.  I wonder if Obama should show a few flaws or admit a few missteps.  It might warm him up a bit.