Obama's Health Pitch: Subject Versus Object

I was listening to Rush yesterday and I heard him playing some of the dialogue in the ABC Obamacare Infomercial. Here's the excerpt that made me furious, courtesy of Hot Air and Sword at the Ready:

Jane Sturm told the story of her nearly 100-year-old mother, who was originally denied a pacemaker because of her age. She eventually got one, but only after seeking out another doctor.

“Outside the medical criteria,” Sturm asked, “is there a consideration that can be given for a certain spirit … and quality of life?”

Obama: I don’t think that we can make judgments based on peoples’ spirit. That would be a pretty subjective decision to be making. I think we have to have rules that say that we are going to provide good, quality care for all people.

When I cooled down, I focused on Obama's criticism of subjectivity in making decisions about health. Karl from Hot Air pegged him well, he wrote "Obama came off sounding more like one of the evil insurance company execs he wants to drive out of business than the sort of empathetic person he wants to appoint to the federal judiciary." What decision about health could not be called "subjective" to one degree or another?

This reminded me of a passage from George Weigel's excellent biography of Pope John Paul II. On page 415, he writes about the Pope's recovery from the assassination attempt gunshot wound in 1981.

The Pope was an active patient, determined to understand what was happening to him and to have a say in his care. He had Dr. Crucitti explain the anatomy and normal workings of the intestine and the way in which the colostomy compensated for his temporary disability. When the doctors gathered for a consultation in the meeting room of his suite, he would poke fun at them afterward: "What did the Sanhedrin say today? What did the Sanhedrin decide on my behalf?" (67) He was joking, but the joke had an edge on it. Part of the struggle of an illness, he once told his doctors, was that a patient had to fight to become "the 'subject of his illness' instead of simply remaining the 'object of treatment'" (68) The dignity of the human person was not surrendered at the hospital door.

From my view, Obama's cry against subjectivity was a blunder, a peep hole into the bureaucratic nightmare of rationed government healthcare that Obama wants to provide for everyone other than his own family. I still have hope that this can be defeated, however if it isn't, make sure you're not seen as a useless bread gobbler.