Democracy, when it’s bought and paid for by very wealthy people and corporations, does not concern itself with the trifles faced by isolated individuals.  It rightfully concerns itself with taking care of the customer, who is always right.

For example, if you are an individual with newly diagnosed hypertension, and have a follow-up appointment with your long-time doctor scheduled for January, you should not worry that he is not on any of the new insurance plans offered by Obamacare.  After all, you can drop dead of a heart attack, or have a stroke, any time and with or without a doctor’s supervision.

None of my long-time doctors seem to be participating in any of the insurance programs being offered on the NY State Health Exchange.  So I could enroll and pay for insurance today, and look for new doctors in the next few weeks.  Or I could not sign up today and just pay the fee of my long-time doctor for a visit in January.

The NY Times reported today that the deadline for enrolling in a health insurance plan has been quietly extended by 24 hours, in light of how screwed up the enrollment process is, how poor the buggy $600,000,000 website still is.  Of course, the government did not announce this extension officially, since they don’t want people to wait for the new last moment to crash the website.  One notes (though the NY Times did not)  that the NY State of Health website was shut down last night at midnight, until 8 a.m. this morning, for “routine maintenance”.

There is no doubt that Barack Obama is a brilliant man and a skilled self-promoter.  He ran two winning national ad campaigns:  YES WE CAN (you’ll find out who WE is)  and CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN (if you’re gullible and/or desperate).  A black friend snorted when I reflected on the man’s seeming lack of discernible moral or political convictions– “who did you expect the first black president to be?  Malcolm X?” and she laughed a bitter little laugh.  

Plus, it must be admitted, the man has, through no fault of his own, stirred up an unprecedented degree of violent opposition just by being a black man in a nation built by black slaves.  The unexpurgated “n-word” is still in wide use, and very often in the air when opponents speak of Mr. Obama.

So, maybe I should not be so harsh on the president, even though he lied when he said “if you like the health care you have, you can keep it.”  After all, when pressed, he apologized for lying– doesn’t that make it much better?  How often does any politician or person in power actually apologize?  It takes a big person to admit he lied, does it not?

In fact, I’m sorry now that I am not more grateful for the great job our Nobel Peace Laureate President is doing (murder of civilians and widespread PTSD from drones notwithstanding).  Just wish I could make an appointment to see my doctor, after seven years of paying up to 25% of my income for health insurance that no longer is offered.