Obama's Health Care "Plan" Punks Us

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Friday September 11, 2009 · 10:09 PM PDT

2009/09/11 · 22:09

More than 30 million Americans recently watched President Obama speak to the nation on health care reform and countless others, like me, read his words or followed along by way of the internet. First off, hats off to the President for making this important issue central to his administration and for having the courage to tackle this immensely difficult policy issue that has stumped administrations since Harry Truman. President Obama--faced with myriad problems left from the rein of terror of George W. Bush--could have pushed health care reform to the side and focused on other problems such as the economy. He didn't and for that he deserves our hearty applause. What follows is an examination of the ideas that President Obama set out in his speech. Although I am critical of most of these ideas, I am not criticizing the President personally. I supported Obama in his campaign for the presidency, campaigned for him, gave money to that campaign and voted for him.

fflambeau

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Thursday September 10, 2009 · 9:19 PM PDT

2009/09/10 · 21:19

President Obama's speech on health care last night showed us the results of his secret, closed door meetings with insurance companies and Big Pharma. At the center of the Obama plan for "change" is his embrace of the insurance industry (which has been at the heart of the failure of the current system). Insurance will be MANDATED under his proposals. Note too that as a Presidential candidate, Obama OPPOSED mandates (which Hillary proposed) thus adding to Obama's impressive list of policy reversals since his election. "It's the wrong approach...insurance companies will get a windfall" Congressman Dennis Kucinich correctly noted. Speaking on a You Tube video (posted on a diary here at DailyKos) Kucinich called the Obama plan a "bailout" of insurance companies. "We're looking at the inevitable demise of the public interest" was Kucinich's overall assessment. In this diary, I'm going to present some facts about the insurance industry in America that Obama seems to be unaware of. They show that the insurance industry is the last group any public-minded person would put at the center of "health care reform." SEE UPDATE #3 below for Kucinich's call for grass roots change. He needs our help!

fflambeau

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Wednesday September 09, 2009 · 9:45 PM PDT

2009/09/09 · 21:45

I didn't watch President Obama's speech on health care for a very simple reason. The President is an enormously gifted rhetorician (not just a speechmaker) and he uses imagery, timing and delivery as well as or better than most modern presidents (only JFK and Reagan were better in recent times at communicating ideas. Note I dislike Reagan intensely). Then there are the powerful TV images of our politicians gathered together in our beautiful national capital. All of these things sway one's mind and I am seeking a more logical and dispassionate reading of the President's speech to see what it portends for our country. I'm taking his speech word for word, line by line, paragraph by paragraph as presented on the New York Times website (which presumably got it from the Office of the President). I'm also a lawyer so this fits in nicely with my training. NOTE: this Diary has been updated to include Dennis Kucinich's reaction (see Update #1 below).

fflambeau

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Monday September 07, 2009 · 8:47 PM PDT

2009/09/07 · 20:47

Many of the top heavyweights in the progressive cause will gather together on Friday & Saturday, September 11th and 12th, for the "Fighting Bob Fest." The event is named, of course, for the late great progressive leader "Fighting Bob" LaFollette. Speaker/participants include Senators Bernie Sanders and Tom Harkin; Jim Hightower; John Nichols; Tammy Baldwin; Jeremy Scahill; Dr. Gene Farley and, Alfred McCoy. Here's how the organizers describe the event:

Fighting Bob Fest is an annual Chautauqua featuring progressive speakers, networking opportunities, and entertainment. Fighting Bob Fest carries on the tradition of Robert "Fighting Bob" La Follette by providing a forum for progressive ideas on issues...

SOURCE: http://www.fightingbobfest.org/

fflambeau

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Thursday September 03, 2009 · 9:42 PM PDT

2009/09/03 · 21:42

The dark storm clouds that surround the Obama White House on health care "reform" may have a bright spot. We have seen dithering from the administration with conflicting pronouncements coming from top officials as to the fate of a public option. The president himself downplayed the public option a week or so ago in Colorado when he referred to it as a "sliver" and not too important to his goals. Just yesterday, a New York Times story indicated the White House would do anything just to get legislation, no matter what it contained, passed:

"It’s so important to get a deal," a White House official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to be candid about strategy. "He will do almost anything it takes to get one."

http://www.nytimes.com/...

Maybe the lack of will--what Bill Moyers has called the Democrats needing a spine transplant--has left an opening for Howard Dean who unlike Obama has real ideas and convictions on health care reform. And also unlike Obama, Dean is ready and willing to fight.

fflambeau

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Wednesday September 02, 2009 · 12:44 AM PDT

2009/09/02 · 00:44

The President remains on vacation--now at Camp David. Labor Day has come and gone, and schools are reopening. But the leadership vacuum coming from the White House continues as does the slide in Obama's numbers. Pollster.com now has Obama's approval rating at 49.5% (see Update #2 below for details). One can read diaries here that deal with whether or not the public option is still valid and where the White House stands, if anywhere, on this. Some people say the leaks indicating an end to a public option are nothing but a trial balloon. Others insist that Obama will soon show his true grit in a speech that he plans to make on the subject. But what is uncontested is this: the administration's position on a strong public option are unclear while Obama continues to vacation and his numbers tank.

fflambeau

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Tuesday August 25, 2009 · 9:06 PM PDT

2009/08/25 · 21:06

Two things spurred my writing this diary. The first was a wonderful diary by Meteor Blades a few days ago that called for the brutal name calling on this website to stop. MB asked for a return to civility. I believe MB and some of the posters indicated that the strident tone of many comments may be partly due to a division of the Democratic Party base into two groups: one progressive, and one centrist-right leaning, with each side lobbing nuclear-like attacks at each other. That to me, is a sound observation. The second stimulus to this diary was an excellent article by a Columbia University Professor entitled "Health Care Reform and the Democratic Party". In just a few, beautifully written paragraphs, Professor Lincoln Mitchell noted that the debate over health care reform raises several larger questions about the party and its future.

fflambeau

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Sunday August 23, 2009 · 9:19 PM PDT

2009/08/23 · 21:19

Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and the disgraced, tax-dodging Tom Daschle are making waves again and showing why they are amongst the most reviled politicians in the nation. Lieberman, speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," urged the Obama administration to consider postponing overhauling the health care system and instead work on smaller parts of the issue until the economy improves. But while that part of his message grabbed lots of headlines, in some respects Lieberman's suggested approach is not unlike Obama's: Lieberman, like Obama, seems to be focusing on insurance reforms and lowering costs of the current health care delivery system (without changing much of the present structure of the system at all). Meanwhile, Obama is talking behind closed doors with one of the biggest opponents of a public option, the tax-dodging Tom Daschle, who is an expert at raising money from opponents of a public option.

fflambeau

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Friday August 21, 2009 · 1:40 AM PDT

2009/08/21 · 01:40

At least one recent diary here notes that Paul Krugman has identified a "trust problem" with Obama on a myriad of issues including health care, torture and indefinite rendition, Obama's refusal to challenge or change Bush administration policies and, of course, the banks. Frank Rich wrote something similar a week or so ago in the New York Times when he asked "Is Obama Punking Us?" and spent most of his column showing that yes, indeed, Obama seems to be doing just that. On Tuesday, August 18th Robert Reich, who has impeccable liberal credentials as a former Clinton Cabinet member (Secretary of Labor) has written a hard-hitting article asking, "How tough is Our President?" While it's fair to say that Reich still remains a believer, it's also pretty clear that he thinks Obama is not punching his weight.

Poll

125 votes Show Results

How Tough is Our President?

125 votes Vote Now!

How Tough is Our President?

Looks like a 90 pound weakling and lets others (like Grassley, Baucus & Co.) "kick sand in his face"

47 votes

Needs to come out swinging more and add weight to his punches, definitely not a heavyweight

30 votes

Doesn't look sharp or decisive but he's the main boxer on our team

13 votes

So, so

4 votes

I myself am a DLCer so I don't have much fight either

1 vote

Plenty tough, bring on the ghost of Ali

30 votes

Milwaukee Mayor a Hero: Potential Dem. Gov?

fflambeau

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Wednesday August 19, 2009 · 9:58 PM PDT

2009/08/19 · 21:58

Politicians of all stripes have taken a bashing in the past few days but none more so than Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett last Saturday night. The Democratic Mayor took his family to the Wisconsin State Fair in the Milwaukee suburb of West Allis and was returning to his car to drive back home when he witnessed a domestic dispute involving a baby, a young lady and an agitated young man. Someone, likely the young lady, called "Call 911, Call 911" and the Mayor was in the process of responding to the woman's cries for help when the 20 year-old-man blindsided him, breaking his cell phone and knocking him to the ground. Barrett didn't give up and rose and defended himself, breaking his right hand in the process as the mayor's punch was likely deflected by the assailant who had practiced boxing and martial arts. The assailant also used either a metal pipe or a metal police-type baton to beat Barrett, knocking out 3 teeth, cutting his face from the cheek to the nose, and hitting him over the head. The Mayor was not accompanied by security because it was a family outing made on the "spur of the moment" but one of his family called 911 and the West Allis police arrived scaring off the alleged assailant who was arrested the following day.

fflambeau

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Tuesday August 18, 2009 · 6:37 PM PDT

2009/08/18 · 18:37

In times of crisis and need, great leaders have risen to the occasion. When our nation descended into the economic abyss in the 1930's the great Franklin D. Roosevelt provided a plan in his presidential acceptance remarks when he pledged

"for more equitable opportunity to share in the distribution of national wealth... I pledge you, I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people... This is more than a political campaign. It is a call to arms."

With the emergence of fascist Germany, Italy and Japan, FDR also foresaw that "This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny." JFK united the country with his stirring call for putting a man on the moon. LBJ--who faced difficulties as great with civil rights legislation as we see today in health care--led a divided democratic party to enact needed voter registration and civil right bills.

fflambeau

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Sunday August 16, 2009 · 10:41 PM PDT

2009/08/16 · 22:41

News accounts from the Huffingtonpost to the NYTimess to the LATimes have indicated the Obama administration is making more peoples' heads spin than Linda Blair did in the exorcist with a bewildering array of statements on the public option. But let's look at the president's own words uttered in a "town hall" in Colorado:

"All I'm saying is, though, that the public option, whether we have it or we don't have it, is not the entirety of health care reform. This is just one sliver of it, one aspect of it."

Not on your sweet bippy, Mr. President. Though "single payer" has been off the table for you for years, a public option is vitally important to our nation and to millions of average Americans.

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Not on your sweet Bippy, Mr. President!