Yesterday, after the withdrawal of Daschle from the HHS spot, two diaries made it onto the recommended diary list in support of Dr. Howard Dean, the former chair of the DNC who helped resuscitate the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party in all 50 states.
This excellent diary by tea in the harbor is falling down the recommended diary list.
We can't ease off the pressure on the White House to select Dr. Dean for HHS now! Let's keep up the CALLS and E-MAILS in support of Howard Dean for HHS Secretary!
Here's tea in the harbor's support of why Howard Dean would be an excellent fix for HHS Secretary:
For some odd reason, being a doctor, or having serious experience in some capacity with the healthcare system, in the past has not been considered an essential qualification for Secretary of HHS. (This may help explain why healthcare is screwed up.)
Suppose a president were to appoint an Attorney General who was not a lawyer? There is in fact no constitutional or legal requirement that the AG be an attorney. But they always have been because being a lawyer is considered a fundamental prerequisite to be AG. How would it be perceived if such a nomination were to be made? Would it get even a single vote in the Judiciary Committee? I seriously doubt it.
President Obama's choice of Steven Chu as Energy Secretary was universally praised because he was a physicist (and a Nobel Laureate one). What a concept, an energy secretary who actually knows something about energy!
Why is HHS considered any different? What qualifies a lawyer for the job?
Beyond that, we have to consider Doctor Dean's experience as Governor of Vermont. As governor, Dean is one of the few politicians who can actually say he did healthcare reform. Vermont today has the best record in the nation for insuring kids, almost all are covered, and the general rate of uninsured Vermonters is one of the lowest in the nation, if not the lowest.
Others can talk the talk on reforming our nation's broken healthcare system, but none can really say they've walked the walk the way Dr. Dean has.
And I give you Howard Dean's speech to the DNC in March 15, 2003. That speech was what made me stand up in my college dorm at the time, and roar in agreement.
What I want to know is what in the world so many Democrats are doing supporting the President's unilateral intervention in Iraq?
What I want to know is what in the world so many Democrats are doing supporting tax cuts, which have bankrupted this country and given us the largest deficit in the history of the United States?
What I want to know is why the Congress is fighting over the Patient's Bill of Rights? The Patient's Bill of Rights is a good bill, but not one more person gets health insurance and it's not 5 cents cheaper.
What I want to know is why the Democrats in Congress aren't standing up for us, joining every other industrialized country on the face of the Earth in providing health insurance for every man, woman and child in America.
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I want an America that has health insurance for everybody!
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In our state, everybody under the age of 18 has health insurance. We have made Medicaid into a middle-class entitlement. If you make $52,000 a year or less in Vermont, everybody under 18 in your family is entitled to Medicaid. We charge if you are at the upper-end of that: We charge $50 a month that insures everybody in your family under the age of 18. Now, if we can do that in a small rural state which is 26th in income in the entire country, surely the most wealthy and powerful society on the face of the earth can grant all of its citizens health care. I am a Governor, and I am a doctor, and I have done it.
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I want to go to the South, and I'm going to say to white guys that drive pick-up trucks with Confederate flag decals on the back of their car, "We want your vote too, because your kids don't have health insurance either."
I'm on COBRA insurance now, and I have to pay $754.32 for the months of January and February. That bill rests on my kitchen island now, and it's going to wipe out my savings that I've been building up for a car. I have to mail that check today.
I wonder whether I can afford the coming 18 monthly premiums of $376 for the privilege of having COBRA insurance. At what point will I drop it and join the ranks of the uninsured in this country, the most wealthy and powerful society on the face of earth that surely can grant all of its citizens health care?
I trust Howard Dean to work with the Obama WH on health care reform. He's the right man for the job. PLEASE CALL THE WHITE HOUSE IN SUPPORT OF DR. HOWARD DEAN!
The numbers for the White House are:
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
TTY/TDD: Comments: 202-456-6213
And please send an E-MAIL HERE AND HERE TOO AS WELL!