Obama's Health Care Speech
Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) is on Countdown saying it's the best speech to a joint session he's seen in 18 years in Congress. It certainly was the best I've ever seen. He bitch slapped the right wing Repubs, Beck, Limbaugh and the Insurance companies all in the period of a three minute section on "misinformation". He used the word "lie" which Presidents never use.
This is the fighting spirit that was called for.
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Well Done, Mr. President. The man can give a speech. Something in there for almost everyone. Distanced himself from the single-payer proponents and also from the vouchers-fix-all republicans.
The only thing it was lacking was any credible methods for reducing costs. Mandates to insurance companies, check; No denied coverage for pre-existing conditions, check; possible public option, check; require employers to provide coverage, check; Reduce costs by ....... ? No check.
If the President has ideas for reducing costs, start with the current single payer system, Medicare. Fix that cost problem, then the independents will flock to whatever the President proposes; the Republicans won't be able to do anything about it.
September 9, 2009 9:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
And Rep Wilson (R-SC) also yelled out "You Lie!" Which is also a first, and a major low point in our history. What a disgusting display.
September 9, 2009 9:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Amen
September 9, 2009 9:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Agreed. But also a display of desperation and weakness. To make an adult yell like that... wow.
September 9, 2009 10:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Will Pelosi have the balls to censure Rep Wilson (R-SC)?
He needs it.
September 9, 2009 11:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Right after she censures Charlie Rangel for his ethical lapses :)
September 9, 2009 11:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hope not. It was a bit rude and ill-behaved, but I'm not in favor of members of congress being punished for calling the president a liar, or just about any other thing they want to call him.
September 9, 2009 11:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fantastic speech. incredible.
Even choked up a little as did Grandma Pelosi
September 9, 2009 10:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
The insurance companies won - the right to have four more years to rip off the American people.
September 9, 2009 11:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
At least.
September 9, 2009 11:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Johann-I think you are wrong. I think the Insurance companies were the loosers tonight.He singled them as the villian. Everybody else important is already inside the tent.
September 9, 2009 11:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well Johann has a point, but it's one lost well before this speech. The moment that health care reform didn't give every American, insured or not, a choice between public or private insurance, they won. Those mandates are gifts to them.
September 9, 2009 11:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jon, Johann is NOT wrong.
5% isn't significant enough competition - it's preservation of the status quo.
I'm deeply disappointed, although it sounded good.
The problem with the current situation is that monopolies are profiting from it. The only fix is to dismantle those monopolies. 5% is not even a token effort in that direction. Ask Microsoft, Wal-Mart, or any of their competitors, if they care about a "competitor" with only 5% market share. They'll laugh, and squash that 5% competitor like a bug.
By the way, I think HR676 does the wrong thing - I don't want to simply make private insurers illegal - there is a cost to enforcing laws and regulations, and that cost is why this plan won't work.
The solution is to nationalize - indeed, to socialize - those private insurers and companies that are now effective monopolies in the health care industry. And there is a mechanism to do that that's available to a US President that doesn't require a single vote to enact - eminent domain. Buy them out, make them part of a Post Office-like federal corporation, that is non-profit. Keep them on the job. Just make the taxpayer their shareholders.
This doesn't bother me in the slightest - I'm a socialist, and have been for several decades. I'm don't have a problem with socialism - none at all.
Jesus Christ was a socialist; I'm a Christian. If you don't believe the Bible about that, ask Ludwig von Mises, who wrote effectively that any objective observer would conclude that Jesus was a socialist. Socialism is not a bad thing; eminent domain is not a bad thing, if applied in the public interest.
Thinking you can regulate monopolies into acting in the public interest - without significant cost - is just stupid. In the sense that religious people can be stupid by blind belief. All of this smacks of religious capitalism to me - blind belief in the benevolent power of markets, in the face of stunning evidence to the contrary.
Johann isn't wrong, Jon.
September 9, 2009 11:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
There's no question the President is an eloquent speaker. So far, however, his actions on too many major issues have fallen notably short of his rhetoric.
I'm encouraged (once more) but will invoke Pres. Obama's self-professed role model, Ronald Reagan, when assessing his performance on health care, banking reform, illegal wiretapping, preventive detention and more...
Trust, but verify.
September 9, 2009 11:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
And yet the most memorable part of the entire evening was when Obama was heckled for his false statement that the proposed health care reform is only for U.S. citizens and legal residents...
His speech was actually pretty dry. And if you speak to anyone in the communication field, you'll learn that Obama employed the very common practice of "baiting" during his speech.
Without writing a college paper, 90% of what Obama said in his speech was "common sense." The two examples he gave at the very outset of how the current insurance industry ruined the lives of two specific individuals is a prime example.
By constantly referencing things that almost everyone agrees on (such as, nobody's life should be ruined because they can't afford health insurance, etc.), he's able to employ a subtle act of persuasion for the 10% of his speech that was most divisive and end up coming across as a pragmatist.
It's a rhetorical skill that Obama is very good at.
September 10, 2009 12:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
"The best speech" you have ever seen !?
Well yes, when it come to "Bitch Slapping" Our Presidnet is real good at that. He seemed to take a real delight at kickin the s*#% out of Hillery and Sarah. Some times I would like to see him at a Town Hall with someone other than bus loads of SEIU and ACORN momas, size XXXL in pant suits
September 10, 2009 12:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Pa'a ka waha, li'ili'i kou laho.
September 10, 2009 1:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
Short Obama: Send me any bill that looks or smells something like health care reform and I'll sign it.
Just make sure it doesn't go into effect until after the 2012 campaign.
September 10, 2009 2:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
For once, Obama is right- Watch video
http://www.newsmaxstore.com/contribute/lav/video.htm
The public option, stimulus for the politically connected, and green jobs are only some of the tools Obama is using to carry out his master plan. People and businesses have figured out what his plan is and are scared to death of him. Read the following and you will see why the Obama stimulus is not stimulating and why the economy will not start bouncing back until after the 2010 election. And that is only if his master plan fails.
Cybercorrespondent
http://cybercorrespondent.blogspot.com
September 17, 2009 10:24 AM | Reply | Permalink