OBAMA: MORE TROOPS AND HEALTH CARE REFORM.

There are many things weighing on the minds of Americans more now than ever, but the most important of them are the war in Afghanistan and the Health Care reform or the general overhaul of it. Many are waiting anxiously to see how they will be handled by the Obama administration, to be able to assess its ability to function effectively under stress, as those two issues have become strenuous problems for the government. They amount to a pivotal, as well as a testing point.

In fact, the combined test is about whether the request for more troops to Afghanistan will be agreed to by the administration, and the concern for Public Option to be accepted as part of any health care plan that Congress will pass. Both have sparked lively debates around the country, and are preoccupying the time of most people who, under normal circumstances, will not show much interest in national affairs, because politics tend to be, in general, an anathema to them.

Yet, one of these issues is about the national security of the United States, from an insurgency that is causing a threat to democracy everywhere, with the perpetrators of 9/11 attacks in mind, to booth; and the other concerns the health care of the nation, comprised of individual people and their families. So, therefore, they (issues) demand critical thinking for the right decisions to be made by the government.

That is what is happening in Washington today; but it (Washington) is also caught up in the usual politics, so much so that, if the government is not careful, the wrong decisions will be made.

Most people think that the diluting of the demand of Gen. Stanley McChrystal for more troops to the Afghan war front, for one, and the pushing out of Public Option from any health care plan, for another, will both be a mistake.

As on one hand, the general knows how a war, which he and his soldiers are involved in must be fought, and the counterinsurgency plan that must be put forth to bring success to himself and his troops; while on the other hand, so much opposing advise is being given to President Obama to shunt the general's request.

On health care, no plan can be used to satisfy all factions to the debate; however, to rule Public Option out of any final plan will not achieve the objective of having a real reform in the health care system. Most people will be left to their own devices to find some form of "coverage". In other words, they will either be forced to swamp the Emergency Rooms in the already crowded hospitals across the country, or buy insurance at cut-throat prices, if they can get it. Others will not be able to afford any type of premium that will be imposed on them.

Both situations therefore need the solemn consideration on the part of President Obama to come to the decisions that will help the whole nation to pass the stressful test that its people and government are facing together at the present moment. The hope is that, he will do so by choosing the correct advise, in both cases. Americans must not be allowed to remain in a state of desperation; no, not for too long.