Bush's plan is extremely odd. As Jerry Brown would say, there's certain unreality here. Bush goes to great lengths to expand the options for uninsured Americans but does little to help keep down costs. He aims to reduce the "paperwork blizzard" of health care administration but adds another layer of bureaucracy through the voucher system. He triumphs choice of doctor but advocates HMOs.

PERHAPS BUSH'S PLAN is just a ruse. As Yogi Berra might say, the President may be dumb, but he isn't stupid. He knows his plan is too silly to pass. He knows that most Democrats favor more radical reform. But now his name is no the health care scoreboard, blunting a potent Democratic weapon. His gambit is that voters will be too confused by the intricacies of health care reform to be able to distinguish between rivaling plans. He may be right.

Or perhaps Bush has another motive. Why would he propose such an outrageously expensive plan, basically a massive tax cut that will transfer government money into the coffers of insurance firms? (Don't be fooled--outlawing "cream-skimming" will only jack up rates for the rest of us).

This is an old technique refined by Ronald Reagan and his budget director David Stockman: Spend enough money elsewhere, and you'll be able to resist calls for spending on programs you don't like. "We simply don't have the money. We spent it all on guns."

Bush learned this lesson well. Spend enough money on health care reform-even though other plans would spend less yet ensure better care for more people--and you'll able to turn down proposals for full funding of Head Start, for earned-income tax credits for the working poor, for expanded prenatal care. "We simply don't have the money. We gave it all to the insurance companies."

Uh-oh, there goes the peace dividend. Oh, well. So much for domestic policy.

[Message: let's do lunch with Yeltsin.]