"Change" update

"In this effort, every voice has to be heard. Every idea must be considered." -- President Obama at today's health care summit.

Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute notes that despite this proclamation that there was not a single representative from either the Cato Institute, American Enterprise Institute or National Center for Policy Analysis -- three of the top 10 think tanks for health care policy. The clear reason for this is that they do not share Obama's prescription of greater government involvement and instead advocate free market solutions.

At this point no one should be surprised, for nothing Obama says can be taken at face value. He promised to take a tough line on earmarks, yet is ready to sign a budget that includes 9,000 of them. He flatly said that he does not favor bigger government yet has promoted big government solutions to literally every issue he has thus far confronted. He held a fiscal responsibility summit and yet has raised the deficit to an astonishing $1.75 trillion. These are not petty criticisms.

The man ran as an agent of change that whose election would hearken a new era of pragmatic governance based on a careful consideration of what works rather than ideology. Each day it is becoming more apparent that this was nothing more than a smokescreen meant to conceal a Chicago politician of limited experience and the most liberal voting record in the Senate. The smoke, however, is beginning to clear.