Use the Flu

The Obama administration may be forever known as consummate manipulators after Rahm Emanuel let the cat out of the bag by airing their scheming mindset. His "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste" statement has been highlighted in hasty decisions, pushing legislation through Congress without due consideration, and attempts to precipitously rush through universal care before public scrutiny was possible on an issue of unparalleled magnitude. This self-proclaimed "open and transparent" administration which was going to post proposals online and give the public ample time to absorb them, has in the event, done the opposite with no opportunity for public discussion or even a chance for Congress to read the stimulus bill before it was rushed through. H1N1, the virus formerly known as swine flu, is ravaging Mumbai (formerly Bombay), the commercial capital of India. Schools there have been closed. Out of an abundance of caution, American schools should follow the same public health standard-better to miss a few days of instruction when flu strikes than to start the world on a death spiral as was seen with the post-World War I influenza pandemic known as the Spanish flu. But the Obama administration has urged the schools to remain open during H1N1 outbreaks which would seem insanity unless the administration is trying to provoke a crisis that they may then manipulate to advance Obama's universal health regime. If the flu spreads but is contained, we have Obama's public health policy to thank. If millions are sickened and thousands die, some in the administration may believe the ravaged populace may beg for public option health care as a means to save their very lives. Either way, the charlatan in the White House can employ an insidious pandemic to advance his agenda-and once again a serious crisis has not gone to waste.