Obama’s “enemies”

This amusing post at Reason Hit & Run[*1] highlights one man’s search[*2] for who, exactly, Obama is referring to when he blames otherwise unnamed “well-financed forces” for attempting to block his health care industry takeover. The piece begins:

Emmanuel Goldstein was the enemy of the state in George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” and the target of the “Two Minutes Hate,” in which the citizens of Oceania — at the cue of Big Brother — would rage at those undermining the state and the party.

Within the novel, it’s never clear if Goldstein is real or a fabricated whipping boy for party officials and angry citizens.

Unlike Big Brother, President Obama hasn’t even deigned to give us a name for the enemy of “reform.” He uses only ominous, vague epithets: “Opponents of health insurance reform,” “well-financed forces” and “those who are profiting from the status quo.”

So I asked both the White House and the Democratic Party to name these malefactors of great wealth.

I called the White House last week, and asked for names, and was told to e-mail spokesman Reid Cherlin. I asked Cherlin about the WhiteHouse.gov statement, “For those who fight reform in order to profit financially or politically from the status quo, the president sends a simple message: ‘Not this time.’ ”

And I asked about this line in Portsmouth, N.H: “Despite all the hand-wringing pundits and the best efforts of those who are profiting from the status quo … ”

“Please name names,” I requested. “Which businesses, lobbyists or industries is he referring to?”

That’s called a “tease.” Go hit the links above to get–as the late Paul Harvey was fond of saying–“the REST of the story.”