The President of the United States has issued a statement through his press secretary essentially kicking the health care reform issue to Congress. The President will not demand from his own party members in the House an up or down vote on the Senate bill which he supported and which received 60 votes.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/...
The President is willing to let people suffer without health insurance and allow the insurance companies to continue their profit-focused anti-consumer practices without end, just because Scott Brown won a special election. This is palpable weakness on the President's part.
Health care reform is still needed regardless of whether Scott Brown's voters think so or not. Why are we giving those voters a veto over the needs of our long-term economic health and the needs of the 40 million who don't have health insurance and the needs of millions who cannot afford the insurance they have?
Again, I know a lot of people on this site have qualms with the Senate bill. However, from the President's perspective alone, he thinks this bill is great (and so do I- the House bill is just a little greater). Yet, he is walking away from a bill that he thinks is great. What does that say about the man's sense of conviction in the face of political adversity?
After all this time and effort, the President is going to cave to the teabaggers simply because an empty suit beat an absentee pant suit in a low turnout special election? Did Scott Brown win the Presidency? I don't understand how anyone could support comprehensive health care legislation for so many months and then abdicate it without even blinking the day after a special election.
I can't imagine George Bush taking such an approach on an issue that he believed in. I can't imagine Hillary Clinton not coming away from a tough fight without something. President Obama is leaving the fight voluntarily with nothing.
This is devastating for the Democratic Party. There is no reason to trust that Democrats believe in what they say, when the President himself will not fight for one lousy final vote on a bill that he thinks is great and vital for the nation. The President is more concerned about protecting his job because he is not confident that he can convince the American people that the GOP are telling lies about this legislation. We elected Obama because of his rhetorical skill, yet he has no confidence that he can deliver when real issues are at stake. The House Democrats are even weaker. They only want to protect their jobs and do not want to do anything that takes them out of their comfort zone. That is true of conservative Dems like Mike Ross as well as liberal Dems like Anthony Weiner or Barney Frank. They don't believe in us.
It is too stunning for words. Hillary Clinton would've been a better President than Barack Obama is today. I am also faced with the conclusion that a more sane Republican government would be far more effective than the Democrats. They would not be cowed by a special election defeat from pursuing their agenda. Their problem is that they are clinically insane. For the first time in my life, I have to think about the possibility of actually voting for sane Republicans at the state and local level. One day, the national GOP might even get sufficiently sane at the Federal level. I might accept a socially conservative Republican who had good economic policies and generally fought for what he/she believed in and didn't have cultural or political polarization to deal with. That's how important health care reform is to me. I have family members who will suffer without the Senate legislation. Barack Obama will not fight for them just because Scott Brown won an election against a candidate who was hardly seen or heard from.
What I am suggesting is that this failure could cause a sea change in political support similar to what happened to the GOP in 2006 and 2008. It has already unmoored me from my previously held political views up to this point. I've always been a solid Democrat, but I am an American first, and I expect government to work and for politicians to do the best they can to fight for what they believe in. Bill Clinton redeemed those values. Barack Obama appears to be running from them.