Ohio Governor Kasich Grabs the Political Pastrami Sandwich - Sees the Value of Accepting Federal Medicaid Funds

"Kasich, who is up for re-election next year, went around the state’s GOP-controlled legislature, which voted against accepting the (Federal expansion) funds last spring."

Governor Kasich Republican right wing of Ohio - apparently went for votes, from what he hopes will be a grateful group of uninsured Ohioans, who will have access to Medicaid resulting from his override of the state's legislature. 

Ohio's Tea Party driven legislature is vehemently opposed to Governor Kasich's override, but in going against them, he's reached for the political pastrami sandwich. Tea Party opposition to Obamacare is not going to help attract voters to Kasich's re-election. He grabbed the pastrami sandwich - he decided not to try the Tea Party lunch menu.

Republicans can squeal like frightened pigs about not wanting to expand Medicaid funding for people who qualify for Federal coverage under Obamacare. They can squeal, but free money is very hard for anybody to ignore.

These selfish anti Obamacare zealots don't care about the uninsured. They focus, instead, on not wanting to pay for health coverage with tax money. It doesn't resonate with these right wing zealots that somebody pays for uncompensated care, but they just don't get this fact.

Nevertheless, it takes a very stupid politician to ignore legal free money, especially if doing so improves important favorability ratings with the public. Governor Kasich needs improved favorability ratings, especially because his anti-women positions on reproductive health care is regressive.

It's doubtful if Governor Kasich can undo the damage he's done to women's health by having his state accept expanded Federal funds for Medicaid, but it can't hurt.

Whatever motivated Governor Kasich to override his state's right wing anti Obamacare legislature should be cloned, and sent to Maine and other states where equally conservative governors are reluctant to expand health insurance coverage, using free Federal dollars. Republicans are terrified of an expansion of the Medicaid program because it costs tax money.Yet, these same politicians don't understand how their salaries cost plenty of tax money. It makes more sense to cut  governors paychecks than to prevent worthy people from obtaining Medicaid.

Think about this. All Governor Kasich's health insurance for him and for his family are paid by tax payers. What's the different between Governor Kasich's health care coverage and Medicaid? Virtually no difference. Both are paid by the same taxpayers.

Regardless of why Governor Kasich overrode his state legislature, in so doing, he did what's right for his state's uninsured people.

From Politico:

After contentious debate and tricky legislative maneuvering, Ohio became the 25th state to accept Medicaid expansion funds from the federal government Monday. 
Acceptance of the funds was shepherded through by Ohio’s fiscally conservative Republican governor John Kasich against the will of his own party. The move represents a key symbolic victory for the Affordable Care Act at a time when the Obama administration has come under harsh scrutiny over how the rollout of the new law has been handled. Ohio is only the eighth state controlled by Republican governors to accept the money—the others are New Mexico, Nevada, North Dakota, New Jersey, Iowa, Arizona, and Michigan.
To move Ohio’s acceptance of Medicaid expansion forward, Kasich, who is up for re-election next year, went around the state’s GOP-controlled legislature, which voted against accepting the funds last spring. Instead, he enraged conservatives by delegating the responsibility to a seven-member “Controlling Board” tasked with reconciling the state budget with changes in federal funding throughout the year. The board voted 5-2 to accept federal funds to expand Medicaid, a wider than expected margin. Conservatives say Kasich illegally circumvented the legislature’s authority and lawsuits challenging the move are expected, Politico reports.
Read more: http://nation.time.com/2013/10/21/ohio-accepts-medicaid-expansion-funds/#ixzz2iV4H88C0

Governor Kasich apparently thinks he'll win votes by helping the uninsured to receive health insurance. Maybe, he's also motivated by doing what's right.

Kasich looks like a pastrami sandwich kind of guy.

Ohio With Two Zeros: What's in a Name

It's hard to find a "Wonderful Town" in Ohio anymore. In a state with bookend "O's" in the name, it seems like the total sum of Ohio's political appeal equals zero.

Rosalind Russell sang "why-O why-O why-O, why did I ever leave Ohio?" in the 1953, musical show "Wonderful Town".
But, unfortunately, there's not much that's wonderful about Ohio anymore.  Cleveland, the state's largest city, is obviously declining while right wing leaders, US House speaker Rep. John Beohner and the state's governor John Kasich have done virtually nothing to improve the state's dour facade.

It seems like the two "O's" in Ohio are like symmetrically political black holes, where images of urban decline and political right wing extremism are sucking the state into eternal darkness.

One has to wonder, if Boehner and Kasich are such wonderful leaders, why, with their considerable political clout, is Cleveland not thriving?  An eduational photo essay at http://www.clickitgirl.net/ruinednation/gallery.html provides a gallery of artistic landmark images depicting Cleveland's decline.

Speaker Boehner, who represent Ohio's 8th Congressional District, is masterful at leading right wing obstructionism in the Congress but he won't vote to support federal expenditures to fund bridge repairs in his home state.

Governor Kasich doesn't seem to mind being the focus of voting rights groups who advocate for lifting restrictions on access to polling places on election days.  It seems like democracy in Ohio has "zero tolerance" for Democrats.  Otherwise, polling places in heavily Democratic districts would operate under the same regulations and during the same times as all state voting districts. Nevertheless, for nefarious political reasons, Democratic voting districts are shut down before all the registered voters have had a chance to cast their ballots.  Nonetheless, Kasich isn't concerned that his state looks more like a developing world country living under a despot, than a democracy, when election times roll around.

Accused abductor and kidnapper Ariel Castro is an example of how Cleveland's urban decline has undermined community pride. How else could this sick man have kept three women and a child under lock and key, in plain sight, unless the community was simply numb to the local human condition?  This situation is symptomatic, in my opinion, of low community morale, compounded by urban decline.

So, the "why-o, why-o, why-o" in the song about Ohio might just as well be a wail for help.  Ohioans can't feel good about themselves, when much news about them is negative. Maybe, if Ohio replaced its grim looking political leadership, it could experience a resurgence of hope in the state's future.  Changing the faces of Boehner and Kasich will do no harm and might even help.

Ohio's state motto is "With God All Things are Possible". Perhaps this is a mystical acknowledgement that it will likely take a divine miracle to turn the two zeros in the state's name into optimistic opportunities. Certainly, the bookend "O's" in the state's name shouldn't represent political sink holes. Rather, the two O's should be openings into the future of progressive state politics and transcending right wing control exerted by Boehner and Kasich.