A Helpful Liberal

Fareed Zakaria is an editor of Newsweek, the journal consciously seeking to become American liberal Democrats’ in-house journal. So when Zakaria criticizes the work of Obama, someone another Newsweek editor, Evan Thomas, called “sort of God,” I pay attention.

Zakaria thinks Obama’s making a mistake pushing a health care reform that worries more about coverage than cost. Here are Zakaria’s words:

There are two great health-care crises in America—one involving coverage and the other cost. The Obama plan appears likely to tackle the first but not the second. This is bad economics but also bad politics: the crisis of cost affects 85% of Americans, while the crisis of coverage affects about 15%. Obama's message to the country appears to be "We have a dysfunctional health-care system with out-of-control costs, and let's add 45 million people to it."

Americans see a health-care bill that has been produced by the old Democratic machine rather than the new Democratic technocrats—more Lyndon Johnson than Larry Summers. That might please the party's base but it will dismay independents. Were costs to rocket over the next few years, the Democrats will have squandered a reputation for economic competence that was hard won.

I agree with Zakaria and hope Obama listens to his wise friend.