From The Window Seat

Home is where?

There's a common expression, "Home is where the heart is."  At one time in our political history, candidates talked about their home town or state with passionate loyalty and a deep sense of connection. Their home town often played a major role in their personal brand.

Jimmy Carter was well established as the peanut farmer from Plains, GA. Ronald Regan was a California man and Bill Clinton - shucks, he's just a little country boy from Hope, Arkansas. 

By the time George W. Bush rolled into the White House via the Supreme Court, we all had learned "You don't mess with Texas." 

But times have changed, or so it seems this presidential race. Our Republican nominee, John McCain, is apparently from a prison camp somewhere in Asia.   And Barack Obama...Hawaii? Kenya? Chicago? Inside the Beltway?

When we wake up on Inaugural Day, how will the license plates that typically reflect the roots of a newly elected Administration read?  They'd both like you to think simply, "Main Street, America."  But I'm not certain we really know.  My bet is on more plates from right here in my home - DC/MD/VA.

Haunted by Tradition

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays.  It's the candy.  But I also like a good creative costume.

I wondered if the "decade of greed" which everyone says we've been living in for actually two decades has impacted costume trends for kids.  Any oil barrens with money stuffed in their pockets?  Warren Buffet look-alikes?  Mini Meg Whitman's running around trading stuff with other kids? Lobbyist carrying around check books and cigars?  

Alas, my Mom friends tell me that for the young ones cowboys, super heroes, fireman, pirates, princesses and witches are still the rage.  In fact, some like to repeat what they wore the year before, even if its four inches too short.

It's good to know that some of our traditions stand the test of time, even while our culture is supposedly crumbling beneath us.  

Health Care, an Oxymoron

All the commentary around the political season, most of it ridiculous, has driven me into a state of self-imposed silence.   But with the election one week away, it's time to get back in the game and debate one of the central issues - health care.

While much of the hub-bub is over who has access and who pays, I'm more concerned with who has responsibility for ensuring health care is in fact that - care.  For the last several months, I have spent quite a bit of time with my 78-year-old mother as she went from doctor's office to hospital, to rehab center, back to hospital, back to rehab and now to a nursing facility.  She went in able to walk and came back two surgeries and two staff-imposed injuries later and wheelchair bound possibly for life. 

Where is the "care" in that equation?  As Melinda Beck writes in today's Wall Street Journal, going to the hospital is almost a death wish, so don't go alone.  But even in the company of my aggressive siblings and I, my mother suffered at the hands of those who were supposed to be healing her.

So here are a few ideas for the politicians:   For all those medical facilities who get tax breaks for being non-profits and/or receive payments from Medicare, tie CEO and senior professional pay to patient satisfaction survey results. State Attorney Generals should provide meaningful ways for consumers to register complaints and see results without resorting to lawsuits.  And for heaven's sake, can we make some progress on electronic medical records so we don't have to start from square one with every medical professional who comes through the revolving door of a patient's health care experience?