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Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Obama shadow boxes with 'enemies' of health plan

Obama says he's battling the special interests in his health-care fight. My column today asks if any business is really fighting back.
Emmanuel Goldstein was the enemy of the state in George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four," and the target of the "Two Minutes Hate," in which the citizens of Oceania -- at the cue of Big Brother -- would rage at those undermining the state and the party.
Within the novel, it's never clear if Goldstein is real or a fabricated whipping boy for party officials and angry citizens.
Unlike Big Brother, President Obama hasn't even deigned to give us a name for the enemy of "reform." He uses only ominous, vague epithets: "Opponents of health insurance reform," "well-financed forces" and "those who are profiting from the status quo."

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