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Time to go "all in" for a full Single Payer Plan, Mr. President.
Let's get one thing clear, not a single Republican in either house of Congress will vote for any kind of Health Care reform bill even if it was only a slap on the wrist of the insurance companies; they just aren't and they are making themselves very clear on the matter.
First it was No on the Public Option and now they are even going to support the Co-Ops (that wouldn't work anyway) either. So they should be marked as villains and marginalized in the context of what this all means for American families.
So why the hell doesn't Obama just say it clearly to the American people that he wanted a Universal program but in the spirit of unity and bipartisanship he tried to craft something that could have wide support from both parties and did everything he could to bend over backwards for the Republicans. With all of this only two things are clear; Republicans want to protect the insurance companies and Democrats want to protect the American People.
The President should then outline that the cost of private insurance is greater for American families as well as businesses than Single Payer would be and that while you will be paying a bit more in taxes but it will be a large cut from what we are all paying for private insurance today. They should also include a provision that the insurance benefits that our employers have been paying for us should be handed over to us employees as pay increases. This won't hurt or help employers and will certainly give the public a much needed boost.
The Right Wing has lost the right to participate in this debate and should be ignored no matter how loudly the shout down poloticians and how angry fox news gets. This is about leadership and principals and doing what is right. Every member of Congress and Obama himself should be willing to loose the next round of elections in order to make Single Payer a reality. The time is now and it's time to go "all in", Mr. President.
First it was No on the Public Option and now they are even going to support the Co-Ops (that wouldn't work anyway) either. So they should be marked as villains and marginalized in the context of what this all means for American families.
So why the hell doesn't Obama just say it clearly to the American people that he wanted a Universal program but in the spirit of unity and bipartisanship he tried to craft something that could have wide support from both parties and did everything he could to bend over backwards for the Republicans. With all of this only two things are clear; Republicans want to protect the insurance companies and Democrats want to protect the American People.
The President should then outline that the cost of private insurance is greater for American families as well as businesses than Single Payer would be and that while you will be paying a bit more in taxes but it will be a large cut from what we are all paying for private insurance today. They should also include a provision that the insurance benefits that our employers have been paying for us should be handed over to us employees as pay increases. This won't hurt or help employers and will certainly give the public a much needed boost.
The Right Wing has lost the right to participate in this debate and should be ignored no matter how loudly the shout down poloticians and how angry fox news gets. This is about leadership and principals and doing what is right. Every member of Congress and Obama himself should be willing to loose the next round of elections in order to make Single Payer a reality. The time is now and it's time to go "all in", Mr. President.
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All in on a sure loser, want to play poker with me and the boys Saturday night?
August 18, 2009 5:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can I get in on a piece of that?
August 18, 2009 5:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Reminds me of a night in the clubhouse bar at Hollywood Park. My friends and I had bet heavily on a "sure" winner. We were all a little stressed because our "sure" winner (#7) had managed to pull off the victory by an ever diminishing neck, beating the #4 at the wire. The odds on the winner were 4/5, but he had won as advertised and we were just starting to relax. There was a photo to be resolved, but we were confident in the result. At that moment a shout came from across the bar, "I'll bet anybody a hundred bucks the four horse is the winner". I immediately shouted back " I'll take 80 of that" (all the cash on me). Then our waitress yelled, "I got the other twenty".
We actually were paid better odds on the winner after watching the race than we were paid for the bets we made before the race.
August 18, 2009 5:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'll give you that I'm probably not the best poker player and you probably would take my money; but the difference here I think is that unlike poker you can go "all in" and still walk it back a bit if needed. Obviously you can't walk back much from where you start because you will appear very weak.
If I can try another more fitting analogy instead of poker, it's like the closing moments of a football game where you are down by 3. You can go for the touchdown pass play on 3rd down and go for the win. If you don't make it you can still kick a field goal to tie and try your luck in overtime. The key difference is that in poker if you go all in and loose you are 100% done and you get up and walk away.
For some reason I love analogies but they sometimes cloud your point rather than clarify them; but as you can see I probably won't stop using them anytime soon.
August 19, 2009 7:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
That's all dandy, however there are 3 minutes left in the 1st half.
August 19, 2009 8:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
I hope you are right and that there is plenty of time and all of my analogies are useless. I'd rather be 100% wrong about everything I've ever said than for us to loose this opportunity get get real Health Care reform with some strong Public plan.
Washington DC = 9/13/2009!!!!!!
August 19, 2009 1:14 PM | Reply | Permalink