Obama's secret plan to socialize medicine

So now some folks aiming to kill the president's health care plan are trying out a new tactic. Let me state again: I am undecided on the health plan. I am leaning against it because I see no way to pay for the public option part of it, and it does nothing to control the costs of Medicare or Medicaid.

But I would rather see us debate those policy points than to create strawman arguments just to shoot them down. And that seems to be the new tactic on the right. I've heard this from readers, and this morning, I heard the same line of argument from Sen. Jim Demint on CNN. He even referenced the same YouTube video a reader sent me. Here's how the argument goes: Obama has admitted to wanting a single-payer system that would replace all private insurance -- that's his true goal!

Well, when cornered on this issue by Hillary Clinton, Obama did talk a lot on the campaign trail about universal health care. Remember the debate? Was his plan REALLY universal health care? No matter, in the current debate, there is no proposal that would create a single-payer system.

But here's the irony. The far left is saying much of the same thing. They are saying that Obama got elected as a proponent of a single-payer system. Obama's own doctor is in this camp. They argue he has a mandate for such drastic reform, and they don't understand why he is giving in so much to the moderate middle.

So the far left and the far right agree: We elected a man who, if he really got his way, would create a single-payer system. What's more, he vowed to make this a top priority.

Um, folks on the right -- is that really the point you want to make? Remember, his victory wasn't exactly a nail-biter.