Obama and Lincoln
There are curious similarities between the early part of the two Presindencies. People sometimes say Obama is a President at war like Lincoln, but there is absolutely no similarity between Afghanistan or the War on Terror with the American Civil War.
Lincoln had one great objective, which for his Presidency was the central theme. It was to preserve the Union. A secondary objective as a means of strengthening the Union was to free the slaves and abolish slavery ever after. For Obama, Universal Healthcare is a defining ambition. Both Presidents met with early setbacks and were unsure of Congressional support, even from their supporters. For Lincoln the war went badly at first. There were shock defeats. Obama has had a very difficult time with the Healthcare Bill. Now he has had a shock political, not military defeat.
To re-energise his war Lincoln wanted to free the slaves, but knew he had not the votes to carry the measure through Congress. Then he hit on an idea. Hid did have the Executive power to seize enemy property. Slaves were property. So he declared them confiscated and freed throughout the Confederacy, where he was not recognised as President and over whose affairs he had no power. A futile gesture? No, it revitalised the war and he ascended into history almost at the level of a diety. Yet it was a further two years before he got the measure through Congress to free the slaves in the Union. Because then it was clear the war would be won.
Obama is in trouble with Healthcare. So he has attacked the banks. Throughout the world he is at once a hero. His Presidency is back on track. If he sorts out the reviled bankers, curbs their greed, cuts their speculations adrift so that it cannot harm the economy, he will stand very tall worldwide and in the U.S, very tall indeed. To resist him then may not be a good plan politically. That is when Healthcare in America will become the right of every citizen.