Illustration by Zach Trenholm

Robert Reich in Salon writes that if the white house doesn't quit allowing itself to be blackmailed by Big Pharmacy, the Health Insurance Industry, and the American Medical Association... the result could be that Sarah Palin will become our next president!

The anxiety is growing on the left.

Letterman didn't pay hush money. Neither should Obama

Letterman refused to pay his alleged blackmailer. Obama should say no to Big Pharma, the insurers and the AMA

Last January, as I understand it, the White House promised Big Pharma, big insurance, and the American Medical Association the moral equivalent of what Joel Halderman allegedly demanded of David Letterman: hush money. The groups agreed to stay silent or even be supportive of healthcare reform, as long as they were paid off.

But now that it's time to collect, the bill is larger than the White House expected, and it's going to fall like an avalanche on middle class Americans in coming years. That could mean an ugly 2012 election (read Sarah Palin).

So the President has to do what Letterman did: Refuse to pay.....

Do you think for one second that the president will listen... not only to his critics... but will he listen to his concerned friends?

I'm sorry to say... NO WAY! Robert is going to get a close up view of the bottom of the bus... and he is afraid that the bus is going to stop at the white house with Sarah being sworn into office.

xtnyoda, shalomed