Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Post Offices and Public Options

One of the general arguments opponents of President Obama's health care reform plans have been making is that government-run enterprises rarely perform efficiently or profitably. At his recent town hall meeting the President himself inadvertently pressed this very argument into service without recognizing that he was agreeing with a major objection to his own proposals. It was pretty funny:

Perhaps by now Mr. Obama realizes his blunder, but if so, why does he not also recognize the reason the postal service has problems that UPS and Fed Ex don't have? Privately-owned companies, subject to market forces, often do well; publicly-owned companies usually don't. One wishes the President would at least appear concerned that when the government manages health care it will in fact be just as troubled as the postal service, maybe moreso.

I say perhaps he realizes his blunder because unlike the Bush years when the media could be counted on to be all over a bungle like this if it embarrassed Mr. Bush and made him look stupid, I don't think we'll hear anything at all about this one from the major media. So it could be that no one has pointed out to the President that this wasn't his finest performance.

RLC