Creep, creep, creep.

Many may have assumed that with the passage of health care reform, the issue was over. If they did, they are mistaken. Arguably, it has just begun. Issues that were pushed aside or avoided to achieve consensus are coming back into the light. Compromises made to ensure passage of the bill are already beginning to fray. Groups that were ignored or asked to hold their tongues in order to smooth passage of the law are speaking up. Said Jim Burroughs, a professor at George Mason University, "If people don't like the outcome [of health care legislation] they have another bite at it... to alter rules so they're more favorable to their policy point of view." Many groups are lining up for another bite at the apple.

The AARP is one of those groups. It is seeking to make sure that seniors receive the discounts that they have been promised. They are also concerned about the new rule that families cover children up until the age of 26 - an issue of concern for many older parents on tight budgets. Abortion rights groups are already at work trying to ensure new rules and regulations are drafted in a way to maximize abortion coverage. Pro life groups are vigilant and ready to intervene to the contrary. Obama's executive order covering federal funding for abortion will not last long. Orders, executive or otherwise, can be rescinded as easily as they can be issued. Drug makers are keeping a close eye on cost controls that were implemented in the new law and are ready to act if necessary. There are many more issues emerging all the time. Gay rights groups are already concerned about what the new plan will mean for them regarding access and consultation in the treatment of their partners. Health care has only just begun to creep its way into American life.

Under the new federal health care plan, health care has officially become a political issue. It is no longer an issue between doctors, patients, and insurers. The government now has to be taken onto account, and with it, lobbyists, activists, and voters. Each new election will bring new pressures and concerns to bear on the issue. One result is that health care will be in a constant state of flux. No government health care policy will ever be able to take into account the complexities of health care, the shifting demographics, or satisfy the needs and wants of everybody. Government will be forever trying to catch up. Every two years there will be a new discussion over health care. Additionally, new procedures and treatments will be developed. New drugs will be discovered. Costs will change. Insurance coverage will have to be continually modified to take these developments into account. It is near certain that those changes and modifications will be made in Washington with all the alacrity and deftness we have come to expect from government.

There will always be people upset and urging for change in policy. For every group that achieved a victory in the legislation, there is a group that lost. The victories won will never last. They will be fought over and over again. The people who are upset today will be running the system some day and it will be the turn of those now running the system to find themselves with the short end of the stick. Health care will become a fixture in many, if not all campaigns to come.

As personal and intimate as health care is to many voters, it is not an issue that will fade. As people move through their lives, their health care concerns will change. As they or loved ones become ill or are injured, their priorities will change. Health care will never be a static issue of budgets and staffing. It will always be a dynamic issue affecting millions upon millions of Americans. It is because of this that health care will never be behind us. It will always be in front of us.

A President for all Seasons.

Fresh off his reprise of LBJ, Obama has set his sights on JFK. On a visit to the Kennedy Space Center Obama told his audience that he is "100 percent committed to the mission of NASA and its future." His commitment to NASA however does not include a return trip to the moon. "We've already been there" said Obama. True to his vision, Obama has set his sights on bigger game. "There is a lot more space to explore" he went on to say. "Space exploration is not a luxury, not an afterthought in America's bright future - it is an essential part of that quest." If it is indeed essential and not an afterthought, why then has Obama waited nearly two years to bring the subject up? Perhaps his administration has been thinking about it the whole time and was just waiting for the right time to break it to the public.

At odds with his vision, and perhaps to reestablish himself as a sensible and sober man, Obama outlined a series of less than glamorous missions over the next few years. Those missions include practical things such as extending the life of the space station and developing new technology to ferry astronauts and cargo into orbit: not the sort of things dreams are made of. Obama's showcase goal however is to put a man on Mars and have a deep space rocket ready by 2015 but he gave no specifics on how he planned to bring those goals about. It is safe to assume that the administration has a plan. They have a plan for everything. We can be sure it is a very good plan.

It will not be long before Obama has everything straightened out and under control here on Earth. No doubt he expects to have his terrestrial obligations well in hand by the next election. After that he can set his sights on the stars. Not even the Earth itself can contain Obama's ambition. There is no reason to think he will not be able to realize his vision. He has not failed us yet. With all that Obama has accomplished so far, going to Mars should not be difficult: not for a gifted man like him. Even the solar system will know his name before he is through.

Obama has won a Noble Peace Prize. He has gotten his health care reform package through Congress. He has challenged the United States to put a man on Mars. If he can just fix the economy, he will truly be a president for all seasons.

A week without a new plan, a new goal, or at least a new headline, is a bad week for Obama. I do not know about the nation, but I am beginning to suffer Obama fatigue.

Bad Habits

On Wednesday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee took major league baseball to task for its stance on smokeless tobacco. Why the issue was before the Energy and Commerce Committee was not explained. In any event, the committee all but demanded that baseball take steps to ban the chewing of tobacco by players during games. Baseball officials said they would see what they could do. Such a ban would have to be agreed to by players.

The concern over chewing tobacco is not about the health of the players or unsanitary playing fields. It is about the influence major league players have on kids and teens. It is feared that young players will try to emulate their major league heroes by taking up the habit themselves: a laudable concern. If major league baseball can be persuaded to ban the habit for the sake of America's youth, perhaps there are a few other things major league baseball could be persuaded to do on behalf of the kids.

Maybe baseball should consider banning scratching, poking, spitting, and picking on the field. Parents have enough trouble discouraging such behavior. They don't need baseball to make the problem worse. Certainly baseball should see what it could do about all the complaining and arguing that occurs on the field. Managers and players yelling at umpires sets a very poor example for kids. It encourages kids to yell at their parents and teachers if they feel a bad decision has been made. Petulance should also be banned. It is already a common place habit among youth and should not be encouraged.

There is a long list of poor behaviors and habits that exist among, not just baseball players, but all athletes. While chewing tobacco may be an obvious one, it certainly is not the only one. It is not even the worst one. Throwing a tantrum after you have been struck out or yelling at the umpire and kicking dirt on him are hardly behaviors that should be abetted by professional baseball players. But first things first.

Ouch.

Yesterday, Kenneth Brooker, the police chief of Flower Mound Texas, filed a complaint against Mayor Jody Smith and and mayor pro tem Jean Levenick accusing them of sexual harassment. The police chief claims he saw the the two women approach a police officer and pinch him on the buttocks. In the complaint, the police chief says he witnessed the officer being pinched on the rear by the two women as he stood in the Town Hall lobby. The officer being pinched did not seem to mind. Indeed, after being pinched, he commented that he had gotten his Christmas goose early. Nevertheless, the police chief felt it was an act of sexual harassment that violated rules and regulations. He felt it was his duty to file the complaint. He was following procedure. Some suspect that Brooker is bearing a grudge against one of the women involved. Chief Brooker is currently under evaluation and his performance has been questioned by Mayor Smith.

Brooker may well have acted correctly. There might indeed be a regulation against what the mayor and mayor pro tem did. Had the officer been a woman and the officials men, no doubt their actions would be viewed very differently. But they are not men and the officer was not a woman. If a complaint was to be filed, it should be the officer that was pinched who should file it, not a witness to it.

The officer who was pinched took the women's action as most men would, as a compliment. Brooker would seem to have an axe to grind. Either that, or he is jealous.