Krugman redux

Can we really turn away from Paul Krugman? Really?

Here's an outtake from his new book, Conscience of a Liberal:

The transformation of the party of Lincoln to the party of Willie Horton is one of the abiding tragedies of American political history. Harry Truman's efforts to complete the New Deal by putting into place a national healthcare plan were sabotaged by Southern Democratic senators who were afraid that guaranteed healthcare would mean desegregated hospitals.

That from a review in Salon. Evidently Krugman makes the case that we're the only industrialized nation without guaranteed, universal healthcare because of racism. And he suggests this is a glass half full, because we're becoming a less racist society.

Maybe so. A less racist society, with a renewed commitment to xenophobia. Try this statistic:

According to a January 2007 survey of Californians by the Public Policy Institute of California, over 70% favored government led universal health coverage, with a drop to 56% when the question implied coverage for children of illegal immigrants.

Meanwhile, a lot of the white children of those folks who hated the idea of integrated hospitals now can't afford to go to the integrated hospitals.