Own It, Mr. President
Hey Barack! I have an idea for you. You are spending a lot of time and energy fighting something you should be celebrating as your own - healthcare reform. Democrats, why are they all so initimidated by a party that has dwindled to a 20% representation by voters? Their party is dead and no one has told them yet. When we think of Social Security and Medicare, those are Democratic institutions and no matter how much misinformation the GOP throws out there, they have never had any success getting the people to agree with them these are failed institutions, even despite their greatest efforts to sabotage those institutions. Healthcare reform can be the same thing, a badge of honor for Democrats. Own it!
If there are no Republicans willing to take part in the passage of life-changing legislation {and that is not hyperbole} let them keep out! They have already torn out the heart of the reform. Or I should say, they took out the heart of what was left of reform, and now we're being told it will not be "robust". All I can say is that Oprah said, you are "The One!" Be the One! Own it. If the GOP fails to see the importance of this monumental legislation, well, you can lad a horse to water, but you can' tmake him drink it, and this is about as clear an analogy as there is. We're talking about something as critical to life as water. We are talking about medical care! If they wish to run from this, let them go. I hope you will stand up for the American people and be 'The One". Own it!
A curious thought came to me as I was considering this post. You are the <b>worst</b> President since George W. Bush! You are also the <b>best!!!</b> Own it! Because for the American people we feel as though this country was som completely trashed by the last one, you are getting to start all over again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ1Q_cZTYGI
OWN IT!!!
The President says he's entered a "quiet period" on the health care issue so the Senate and the House can work their will.
Of course, we keep hearing reports that, behind the scenes, he's fighting furiously to rip the undescended testicles off the unborn public option.
So maybe he already does own it.
Still (I forget just why) I have hope.
October 24, 2009 12:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have hope, too, and I sometimes wonder why, but if he was working behind the scenes, we would know it. There is always someone willing to reveal what they know to the MSM. Besides, with a majority like this, if we wanted, we could just jam it through. Who cares if they see what's coming? A more transparent process would be a welcome change, change we could more easily believe in.
October 24, 2009 11:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
About Obama and "transparency, did you happen to see this blog from Glenn Greenwald?
Apparently some people never stop looking for a "reason to believe," and why not? People who still try to believe in Obama aren't to blame when he sells them out.
October 25, 2009 12:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
No surprises here, George. Obama is the same gentleman who eluquently attacked FISA during the primaries, then voted for it as soon as it became clear he was to be the nominee. Then he arrogantly dismissed his supporters who felt betrayed.
October 25, 2009 6:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm pretty sure the president just wants a bill, any bill, to pass so he can say he reformed healthcare Gregor. Yes, I think he knows how important it is to control escalating healthcare costs, but that looks like something that is secondary to a political victory for him from where I'm sitting. p.s. I'm finding it hard to forgive you for that Madonna clip... ;)
October 24, 2009 12:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, I see that as a distinct possibility, victory of any measure is a victory. Just win, baby! Well, that came from the Raiders and anyone following football knows how they're doing. We have heard, however, that if we can just crack open the door, we can adjust things later. Well, we have a good majority now...how about now, and revel in the glory of bringing a better life to the hard working people of this nation.
October 24, 2009 11:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gregor, I don't disagree with sentiment but I think Obama already said "I own it"
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/10/60minutes/main5301098.shtml
But I wish he would have owned a real public option, one that was available for everyone.
October 24, 2009 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
It seems Obama will be the owner whether he does anything or not. The GOP and their pundits have made everything happening a result of this President. Anytime they talk about anything it is what Obama is doing. I just think he could be doing more and he should help get this public option enacted in a meaningful way. I think all he did with his speech was a pat on the butt, you guys keep after it, but he has done little to define it, or actually make it happen in a substantial way, IMHO.
October 24, 2009 11:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
To balance the Madonna clip, maybe this by Eva Cassidy, describing what some of us will feel if Obama really is sabotaging the public option:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_jqje0lZZ0&feature=related
Hers is probably the best version of this song I have ever heard; however, imo, Rita Coolidge's voice better for for the song; unfortunately, the only video I could find in which she sings it is on a Mississippi river boat that was bedecked with confederate flags.
But -- if you can just listen, without getting obsessed about the background, it's a beautiful rendition
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq33628Lsbg
October 24, 2009 3:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's pretty interesting how the same song can be sung so differently. I hope Obama is singing the same song. It's a little difficult to recognize just yet, but we're just listening to the introduction. Curious to know what the words will be. I'm listening for a robust public option.
October 25, 2009 2:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
Okay,
I am completely pissed off right now because many of us have worked hard to fight for real and meaningful health insurance/care reform, now to realize that not just Senator Baucus but the White House has been working against us. No wonder you weren't hearing the president commit to a public option. It was never his intention.
They all just expect us to accept a mandate, a corporate giveaway of 40 million new forced customers to the insurance industry that has brought us the status quo. An industry that seems to be making back room deals based on 'their word'. No reason to make real changes in law to keep them honest, right? Give me a break.
So, while we are fighting to get the most value we can for this 'mandate' and to get real competition and to cut costs... our own president that talked about change from the ground up is pushing back against our efforts from the top...
This is very unexpected and disappointing. I am furious.
October 24, 2009 4:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think everyone is po'd that the democrats aren't stepping up to the plate and telling the public exactly what they're doing. They're acting as if the legislative process is a form of black magic that can only be performed behind closed doors followed by a ritual dance and human sacrifice at the alter of law.
Personally, I'd like to hear that they are leaning more towards the Swiss method which does force everyone to purchase insurance from the industry, but the government really shoves it up the insurance industry's a$$ with strict to severe regulation that protects the public. While it too has problems, it provides the public with ready access to medical care at reasonable rates - reasonable being one half of what it costs in the US for the same services.
On the other hand, the Germans have a pretty good system too that should be considered. It's taxed based - both individual and employer pay into it. But if you consider both are paying into an private insurance scheme too, what's the difference? At least with a public tax paid system, both the public and business have a say when costs rise.
I'm suspect Congress and Obama will get an earfull once they announce the bill, complete will details of what it will do. That will be the only time the public will get a chance to raise pure hell that their wishes are being ignored. The only problem will be those who claim to be conservatives will be fighting against the bill because does too much and raises taxes, and those protesting it's not doing enough and shift too much of the cost on to the public.
More effort needs to be placed on getting the public to get on message for what they want rather than what Congress thinks they want.
October 24, 2009 10:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, the public needs to get on message, but who is the leader for that? I've nominated Howard Dean, but the powers that be have worked hard to ignore him and the people have not resisted those efforts to diminish his influence. It seems to me he is the best representative of what the average person wishes to see get done. I wish more people would find him and support him.
October 25, 2009 2:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
You have certainly worked very hard for reform, Sync. We won't know what we have until their done with it, but I don't like that an insignificant party has been given so much voice as to the outcome and they have no interest in being constructive, so why ARE we listening to them at all. That's what I mean when I say own it.
October 25, 2009 2:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
For a long time now Obama has been saying that a public option is just one piece of the puzzle and not the centerpiece of reform. So why are people so surprised?
October 24, 2009 5:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
If it was a piece to the puzzle, then if it is not there, the puzzle cannot be finished.
October 25, 2009 2:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
Depends whose puzzle you're referring to. Not everybody's puzzle looks the same.
October 25, 2009 8:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
We're all in this puzzle together. Yours? Mine? We're talking OUR country.
October 25, 2009 11:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
Right, but your puzzle may have a piece that's called "single payer" or the "public option" while other people's puzzles may not have those pieces.
October 25, 2009 11:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
But what is there to own really? Even with the best version of public option included it is symbolic at best. Only a tiny fraction of the population will be able to participate in the public option. Most people will be barred from participating and forced to remain in the rotten private health insurance system. For those who don't have employer provided healthcare but who aren't destitute there will be no option at all. You will simply be forced to buy the rotten insurance the parasites offer.
Whatever ends up being passed, it will not be actual healtcare reform. It will be an insurance subsidy bill that constitutes a massive boon for the worst actors in the whole healthcare mess. I predict that if the bills being proposed pass more or less as they are today, it will set healthcare reform back instead of advancing it because the subsidy mandate is going to be so hated.
I hope I'm wrong.
October 24, 2009 6:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
I totally see your prognostication as having a lot of potential, but will hope we are wrong as well.
October 25, 2009 2:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
I was wondering about that public option vs private plan qualifications.
Let's say the bill has been passed with a public option as you described. Now if you're unemployed, you automatically qualify for health care under the public option. But what happens if next week, you're offered a position that includes health care. And let's say the public option is cheaper and has more and/or better benefits than the health care package your future employer is offering. Do you have to accept the employer plan? or can you accept the position, but refuse the health plan offer and keep the public option plan?
October 25, 2009 3:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
I am not 100% sure but I do think you would be forced back into the private insurance available through your employer. I can't imagine the insurance lobbyists allowing any provision that would allow people to remain in the public option if there was a private alternative---even if the private alternative costs more and delivers less coverage. In many ways, the public option they are peddling us is a sham. Most people think it will be available to everyone when, in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. So what are we left with? Yes, pre-existing conditions exclusions would be eliminated, but we are stuck with a very costly insurance mandate and subsidy plan that won't cover everyone and will cost the treasury substantially more than is necessary given that the people would be far better off with a single payer plan or a modified one in which every citizen would be allowed to choose the public option if they wanted it.
October 25, 2009 11:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
I don't know, folks. We elected Democrats, gave them an amazing majority and a mandate to change things.
After the last 8 years, nay, 30 years, I felt that we were writing an entirely new song, and we were singing it loud and clear.
But now, maybe our new anthem should be this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqg3kcwAgso
October 24, 2009 7:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe, but I'm still hoping maybe not. Well, not just hoping, writing to keep it focused on what I think is important. Of course, we lost single payer, but a public option is the best that's left, if it's done right, and that does not mean from the Right.
October 25, 2009 2:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
That was fun, Planet. 'Ils ont changer ma chason, ma...'
I love how she can make her voice break.
October 25, 2009 8:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Asking for healthcare is a simple demand that doesn't have a simple answer. It is your own impatience with your party that will destroy you morons. You cannot demand that they pass healthcare now. We are talking about restructuring a system that is so much larger than any of us can imagine.
To say that you wish them to "OWN IT!!!" and force a bill through Congress is so foolish its liberal. In case you didn't know, the only deadline you kids are fighting is the elections of 2010. Until then, there is no rush. Whatever bill your leaders pass they have already stipulated to not take effect until 2012 anyways (I wonder why that is? just in case Obama loses re-election, maybe? Passing the blame once again, hm? Cute) so if you truly cared about healthcare reform you crazy democrats would be content to let the leaders you chose to formulate a GOOD bill instead of begging them to give you universal healthcare YESTERDAY.
Seriously... the naive, blind loyalty to liberal ideas on this website astounds me. You people talk without any understanding of what is going on. It seems to me you are all too caught up in the excitement of ideological competition (liberal vs conservative) to care about the championing of your own beliefs.
Liberalism has already won. Your majorities are unbeatable.
Sit down, shut the fuck up, and let your leaders do something remarkable that won't embarrass your party a few years down the road (ala, dont do what Bush did with the war on terrorism)
October 24, 2009 8:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fighting for real health care reform is not about some liberal vs conservative prize. It's about making health care accessible for everyone and bringing down skyrocketing health insurance/care costs.
A moron such as yourself that believes he knows everything is hardly a person we should take advice from. So, please, take your own advice!
October 24, 2009 8:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, he's right. Any bill that gets passed doesn't take effect until after the 2012 elections. And that's not a coincidence.
People on here think there's a blank slate that we can all form a healthcare plan from. But unfortunately there's an existing system that a lot of people are ignoring.
Making healthcare more accessible and bringing down costs is something that both parties have been trying to achieve. But if you hate the other side, then you just have your blinders on, I guess.
October 24, 2009 11:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am not at all surprised to find you agree with him.
Nor am I surprised that you assume none of the rest of America has any brains and you assume that we are unaware of the realities of now and where we are trying to go. 2013 is not news... but it could be shifted to sooner and if not, it is not the major issue. What our choices will be is really the point at hand. And I will continue to fight for the best option we can possibly get.
However perhaps I should probably take your advice and instead of dignifying your assumptions with my response... not wrestle with pigs.
October 25, 2009 1:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
So if you don't like what you're reading, get the fuck out.
October 24, 2009 8:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey isn't that a song by Extreme?
If you don't like what you see here, get the fu@k out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTk3b1oH0Co
October 24, 2009 9:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
You never heard the expression "not to wrestle with a pig"???
October 24, 2009 11:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Have you ever heard the expression
'when you think you know more than every one else you are most certainly mistaken?'
Or 'wisdom is to know what you do not know'?
October 25, 2009 1:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes I have. I would have thought you guys were classier than just throwing it back at people.
October 25, 2009 8:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
You will perceive whatever you perceive and make whatever judgments you will make.
I will discern and respond in no 'one way' to anything. I will not prescribe that the only way to X respond is X.
Based on your behavior at TPM. I will not concern myself with your 'judgments' of me.
October 25, 2009 10:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Great, you don't need to. I just think throwing f-bombs around the room isn't very productive.
October 25, 2009 1:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
There's some great bass in that one, Sync! Very funky!
October 25, 2009 2:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
That's really constructive.
October 24, 2009 11:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
If the dude had come in here without calling everyone morons and then letting out the f-bomb, I would have been more constructive.
October 25, 2009 1:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yez, LisB. Next time issue an engraved invitation to "Get the Fuck Out".
Now that's 'constructive'. Polite, too.
And also.
TruckNutz!!!!
October 25, 2009 3:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
Good idea, Seashell. I'm just not so sure I'd wanna invite him to the infamous {{{butt sects}}}.
I mean, we barely know him. He might actually enjoy all that wonkiness....
;)
Still, ivory-colored invites with gold-leaf next time, for sure. Thanks for the netiquette lesson, beloved Pup.
October 25, 2009 3:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
Way to stoop down to their level.
October 25, 2009 8:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Rot, looks like you're new here - you need to learn how to make a proper point to us morons. For example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9KC7uhMY9s&feature=related
See, once you do that we of the moronic persuasion are receptive to your telling us what's going on. So...what's going on? The dreadful blooksucking healthcare vampires are so powerful that we can't stop them from feeding off the suffering of others?
Morons can use silver bullets and sharpened stakes as well as anybody. Watch out, we're going to pull their coffins out into the sunlight and open them, and watch the corporated Nosferatu's boil in the light and turn to dust.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMHyovwX7JM
October 24, 2009 9:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Back in the 5th century BC in ancient Greece, there were some who found more comfort in tyranny than the freedom offered by democracy.
October 24, 2009 10:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, at least I didn't wish him to go all the way back to the fucking 5th century....I can be nice.
October 25, 2009 1:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
I was just tryin' ta be nice and point out from a historical point, his argument is based more on letting others decide for him what is best rather than speaking and becoming an active participant in the debate thus making him a stakeholder.
October 25, 2009 3:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oh. He had steak? NOW ya tell me....oy.
October 25, 2009 3:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Naw...I'm not one to waste Prime Beef. He'd be lucky to get some cold shoulder if he behaved himself.
October 25, 2009 4:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sit down, shut the fuck up, and let your leaders do something remarkable
It is exactly because this is the way the Right thinks things should be done that Dick and Dubya did such a remarkable job. Hey, thanks for your advice, but the Dems have never shut up. It was the Right who stopped listening.
October 25, 2009 2:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
And it was the Right who went mute while their leader, and our President, who we will not deny was our President, took this country into a trumped up war while betraying an entire covert operation and insituting torture, illegal wiretaps, and a host of other crimes that are an insult to a democratic society.
Sit down, shut the fuck up, and let your leaders do something remarkable
Did you learn nothing from the last notorious Administration?!?
October 25, 2009 2:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
Asking for healthcare is a simple demand that doesn't have a simple answer.
Talk about being a moron ... every other industrialized country has some sort of healthcare system that offers better care at much less cost than what we have in the US. We don't need to reinvent the wheel, you know. But we do need to have it attached to a vehicle.
... so if you truly cared about healthcare reform you crazy democrats would be content to let the leaders you chose to formulate a GOOD bill ...
Like I said, 'GOOD' has already been achieved. Adoption is where we should be in the process.
October 25, 2009 3:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
A lot of good comments here Gregor. I do not know what to add.
Is the President only acting 'politically'? Is he scheming with a real agenda he does not publish?
I don't know. I do not have the file, so to speak.
Pelosi is quoted differently every day by MSM and Huffpo et al. So is Reid.
DOES ANYONE REALLY KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON?
I DO NOT THINK SO.
October 25, 2009 2:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
That was something I was considering just yesterday. It's like we only have these snapshots of people in action and are trying to figure out where they are going.
I guess another analogy might be one of those soldiers storming a machine gun nest. He's bobbing and weaving and falling down and getting up and we just don't know if he's going to make it.
October 25, 2009 11:54 AM | Reply | Permalink