The Cleveland Plains-Dealer reports that President Obama plans to visit the Cleveland Clinic tomorrow to drum up support for his health-care-reform proposal. The details? “Obama wants a plan that covers the uninsured and lowers costs for others.” Well then, what’s with all the controversy?

The article identifies the obstructionists: “In addition to heated rhetoric by some GOP leaders who charge that reform legislation is being rushed, various interest groups have mischaracterized [Obama’s] proposals in television commercials airing around the country.” It’s that pesky rhetoric and mischaracterization again.

I happened to be in Cleveland last weekend, where I stayed with a friend who is a young doctor at the Cleveland Clinic. Among the colleagues he knows, he said, most are opposed to the Obama plan. My friend’s situation illustrates the dilemma faced by many: Early in his residency, he has to decide whether to make the extra investment in time and money to become a cardiologist, or to take a shorter and less rigorous track toward a less-specialized practice area. Traditionally, there were considerable financial incentives to specialize. Now that has been called into question, not only by the opacity of Obama’s plan to control costs through vague command-and-control measures, but also by the higher tax burden that will soon have to be borne by high-income professionals, regardless of how hard they have worked or how many loans they have to repay.