Obama Tells The AMA: People Who Say I’m Pushing Government Health Care Are Lying

Obama tries out his Jedi Mind Trick during his address to the American Medical Association. Here’s an excerpt from his speech:

What are not legitimate concerns are those being put forward claiming a public option is somehow a Trojan horse for a single-payer system. I’ll be honest. There are countries where a single-payer system may be working. But I believe — and I’ve even taken some flak from members of my own party for this belief — that it is important for us to build on our traditions here in the United States. So, when you hear the naysayers claim that I’m trying to bring about government-run health care, know this – they are not telling the truth.

Right. All Obama’s doing is trying to set up a government-run health care plan that will “compete” with private insurers. And by “compete” he means it will undermine them – since government programs don’t have to be run at any level of profitability – and run them out of business leaving Americans with no choice but his government health care plans.
What Obama is doing is parsing. No, he’s not nationalizing the health care industry. Not outright. But he is pushing for a health care market where only his government programs can survive so that when most Americans are looking to be covered for health care the only real choice they’ll have will be the government.
A dandy rhetorical trick, though it’s not exactly in keeping with Obama’s “new politics” mantra from the election.