It’s Time For Obama to Step Up For Real Healthcare Reform

It was the dream of Senator Ted Kennedy that every American have qualilty health care.  And it’s no secret that Kennedy put his faith behind Barack Obama to get it done (remember that Kennedy “passed the torch” to Obama during the 2008 Democratic Convention).

Now, with the passing of Senator Kennedy, President Obama must step up to the plate to get healthcare reform done.  To do this, he’s going to have to unite Democrats by using his leadership to honor the life-long dream of Kennedy.

The only way to really to provide healthcare for every American is with a single payer system.  Democrats must get together to stand up to the myths and propaganda created by healthcare industry lobbyists.  They must also be ready to stand up to Republicans especially in the Senate (let them filibuster and make a spectacle of themselves in front of the nation if necessary!).

The United States is the only modern developed nation in the world that doesn’t provide healthcare for its citizens through a single payer system.  The reason we don’t is because too many of our lawmakers are intimidated by big-money healthcare industry interests.  If the Dems compromise on this issue by dumping the public option or by requiring all Americans to buy a private insurance plan (or be penablized through taxes), the American people will become the pawns of these big-money interests who will be forever more enriched at our expense.

With President Obama’s leadership and Democratic majority in both Houses of Congress, Americans can free themselves of healthcare lobbyists who are only interested in bottom line profit if – and only if – President Obama leads the way and the Democrats stand united, tough, and strong.

House bill HR 676 and its Senate equivalent S 703 will provide quality healthcare for all of us.  By clicking the links you can read these bills for yourself (online or download the pdf).  For those who want to keep their private insurance, they can opt out of these plans (similar to people who send their kids to private school and opt out of universal education).

Read this for more information:  Hudson Reporter – Support single payer health care.

 

The Associated Press: ‘Clunkers’ rebates look likely for another month

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate Majority Leader, told his colleagues that, unless they wanted to miss some of their August vacation, they better get moving on extending the “Cash for Clunkers” program.  According to the AP, it looks like his push is working (see link below).  The Senate is scheduled to leave this Friday.

The House, before leaving for their recess, already approved $2 billion more to extend the popular program which gives qualified buyers up to $4,500 for their gas-guzzling trade-in.

Even though people like Glenn Beck call these trade-in’s, which get less than 18 MPG, “perfectly good cars,” the “Clunkers” program is not only getting older inefficient vehicles off the road, it is also spurring the economy!

The Associated Press: ‘Clunkers’ rebates look likely for another month.

 

Possible “Deal” on Health Care Even Though Obama’s Doc Predicts Failure

CNN is reporting that the House leadership has reached a compromise “deal” with fiscally conservative blue dog Democrats on health care reform, even though they agree that there will be no final vote on the measure “until Fall,” according to CNN.

The House is trying to achieve some modicum of success on the controversial health care measure before they leave for recess next week and face their voters at home.  Meanwhile President Obama continues his town-hall meeting tour in his attempt to put people at ease about the legislation which, if passed, could cost taxpayers $2 trillion or more inside a decade.

At the same time, the president’s personal physician is saying that the current legislation will fail.  Dr. David Scheiner, who was Obama’s personal physician for more than two decades, predicts that the legislation “is bound for failure,” according to Sam Stein of The Huffington Post.  Obama’s doctor is a fan of a single-payer health care system which would end private health insurance and make the government the sole payer for all health care.  His criticism, according to the Huff Post article, cites Obama’s “pragmatism” to the political reality that Americans with private health care would be unwilling to give up their policies in favor of government-run health-care.

Links to Huff Post article:

Obama’s Doctor: President’s Vision For Health Care Bound To Fail

Read the current legislation for yourself:

1. House Energy & Commerce Committee Legislation:  http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1687&catid=156&Itemid=55

2. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions:  http://help.senate.gov/

More Info on health-care reform legislation:

1. Kaiser Family Foundation Info:  http://www.kff.org/

2. White House, President’s remarks to AARP:  http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-in-AARP-Tele-Town-Hall-on-Health-Care-Reform/

3. Wall Street Journal Q & A:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203609204574318132550338334.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Technorati Tags: Obama,CNN,Obama’s doctor,health-care,health-care reform,politics,government,Huffington Post,

 

Michigan Republican Wants Congressional Resolution to Force Obama to Apologize to Cop

Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R - Livonia, Michigan)

As if Congress didn’t have more important things to do, Michigan Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R) will introduce a resolution “to retract his earlier remarks and apologize” for statements made about the officer involved last week in the arrest of a Harvard professor, according the Detroit Free Press.

Sergeant James Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department arrested Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., after responding to a call of suspected burglary.  Gates had lost his house keys and was breaking into his own home.  The charges of disorderly conduct were later dropped.  President Obama, last week during his news conference, spoke out about the Gates’ arrest saying that police “acted studpidly.”

Obama later tuned back his wording but did not apologize.

McCotter wants a resolution which will force Obama to take back his words “for having unfairly impugned and prejudged his professional conduct,” according the Detroit Free Press article.

Link:  McCotter to urge Obama to apologize to cop over remarks about Gates’ arrest | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press.

 

CBO Director “Invited” To White House Meeting By Obama

White House South Facade

Everyone knows that an invitation to the White House by the President is more than an invitation.

Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf says that President Obama “invited” him to the White House on Monday to discuss the agency’s “views about…health reform,” according to the Director’s official blog.

Last week’s report by the CBO in a letter to the co-chairs of the Senate Committee on the Budget said that “rising costs for health care will cause federal spending to grow much faster than the economy” and it warned that Obama’s health reform, in its current form, would become “an unsustainable path.”

The CBO is an independent agency which is charged with providing Congress with the nitty-gritty, the economic impact, of government spending.  As a result of the CBO’s assessment of the current health-care legislation, many in Washington, including some Democrats, are now questioning the reform bill which could run into the trillions within a decade.

Director Elmendorf didn’t give much detail in his blog about what was covered in his meeting with Obama, Administration advisors, and others at the White House but he did say that the event didn’t go to his head.  ”Of course, the setting of the conversation and the nature of the participants do not affect CBO’s analysis of health reform legislation,” Elmendorf said in his blog.  Saying that he essentially reiterated to the president the same information which he provided to Congress, Elmendorf said that he “will continue to work with Members of Congress and their staffs, on both sides of the aisle, to provide cost estimates and other information as health reform legislation is considered.”

 

Health-care Reform In Critical Condition

Public opposition to Obama’s expensive health-care reform is putting pressure on Washington lawmakers.  It’s not just Republicans now who are questioning the viability of the massive program expected to cost the taxpayers trillions.  Democrats, who are getting a earful from folks at home, are now backing off their support of the president’s plan so much that it now appears that President Obama will not get his way of a bill on his desk by the August recess.

Earlier today, the House Energy Energy and Commerce Committee, one of three committees who are charged with marking up the bill,  going over it line by line, cancelled its session indefinitely.  Blue Dog Democrats, who are conservative when it comes to government spending, are bucking the plan and refusing to cooperate with Democrat leaders.  (Read story here.)

House majority leader Steny Hoyer (D) of Maryland is now saying that it’s unlikely that they will reach agreement before they go a month-long vacation in early August.  (Read story here.)

Obama, meanwhile, is now making daily appearances to try to push support for his plan.  While the House cancelled its committee session, Obama appeared once again from the White House Rose Garden to promote his health plan.  Can you say “hustle?”

Speaking of feeling like Obama is trying to “hustle” the American people, watch Neil Cavuto’s commentary from yesterday, July 20.  He likens what Obama and supportive Dems are doing to a slick car salesman who “hustled” Cavuto, when he was a young man, into a bad deal on his first car.  (Watch video here.)

 

As Poll Numbers Drop Obama Pushes to End Healthcare Debate

New poll numbers show that the majority of Americans now oppose Obama’s plan for healthcare reform because of concerns about negative changes to their own healthcare programs if the government option is put in place plus the likelihood of tax hikes on the middle class to pay for it.

A new Rasmussen poll from Friday, July 17, 2009 shows that only 35% percent of voters favor the government-run option which is down from 41% from a national poll taken just a few weeks earlier in mid-June.  Voters expressed concern about the cost which would ulltimately raise taxes on the middle class.  They also fear that their own healthcare program would be changed because of government intrusion.

Nevertheless, President Obama is insisting that debate over his health reform end and that the Congress move quickly forward to pass the legislation, wanting it on his desk to sign into law by the August recess about two weeks from now.

At Childrens National Medical Center in Washington, D. C., today, Obama called for ending the debate saying, “We’ve talked this problem to death,” referring to the complicated issues, like costs into the trillions,  surrounding healthcare reform.

Obama is proving to be more of a typical politician rather than a statesman.  Rather than the inspiring leadership Obama showed as a candidate during the elections, he is now resorting to the old standard of fear mongering to try to get his political way in Washington.

Obama fearfully stated as fact that “more children will be denied coverage” unless we pass his program now.  Obama evidently conveniently forgot another fact:  the  SCHIP program, which our tax dollars pay for,  makes sure that all children can get medical care whether or not their parents can provide or afford private insurance.

If trying to scare about the “children” wasn’t enough, Obama continued the fear, saying that “jobs will be lost, take-home pay will be lowered, businesses will shutter.”

For all the fear Obama is dishing out, however, it doesn’t appear to be working.  Over the weekend, more moderate Dems joined the growing chorus of naysayers against ObamaCare.

We can only hope that these lawmakers continue to be skeptical about this massively expensive program and that they don’t buckle to Obama’s scare tactics!

 

Pelosi: “Wholesome Dynamism” on Health Care

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D - California)

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is attempting to rally legislators to move forward on Obama’s health care by declaring that everything’s okay and on schedule and the Congress is acting with “wholesome dynamism,” according to Fox News.

Huh?

Pelosi appears to be in denial of the truth.  The Democrats’ expensive health care reform legislation, which could cost $2 trillion or more inside a decade, is losing ground fast.  The bill  barely passed 2 committees – one by only 5 votes and the other by 4 votes.  A bipartisan group of six senators, including Independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, is warning that they will not  be bullied into rushing the legislation through.

But yet Nancy Pelosi acts as if nothing is wrong!

Democrats, including the president, know that they have to act fast if they have any chance of getting this bill through.  The president’s popularity numbers continue to decline as people are waking up to the fact that Obama is all about spending and no real change.

Obama, with Pelosi’s support and Harry Reid in the Senate, is demanding that both houses of Congress ram his health care bill through before the August recess but it appears that more Dems are now bucking the president’s orders.  Democrats in both houses are now realizing that if they go along with the president, they will lose support at home with voters.  And, after all, each member of Congress is more concerned about keeping their own power rather than complying with the President, their party, Reid, or Pelosi.

Link: House Democrats Use Key Votes to Rally Support to Health Care Plan, Despite Hurdles | Fox News

 

Sotomayor Plays Dodge Ball With Senators

Senator Tom Coburn (R) of Oklahoma

The only thing we know for sure about Supreme Court nominee Sonya Sotomayor is that she is a master dodge ball player.  At times boring all of us – except perhaps the most adept legal eagles - with her equivocating answers, Sotomayor has not directly answered any of the questions put to her by the Senators.

Today’s exchange with Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn was an exercise in futility.  For nearly one hour, Coburn asked her questions on several key issues including gun control vs. the right to ownership, abortion, and what constitutes a fundamental right that can not be overturned by a Court or the Congress.

Sotomayor’s answers were consistently boring and laden with legal terms and case citings.  She never once answered how she would rule on any of these cases or what her own views are on these issues.

What does she think the purpose of this hearing before the Senators is all about?  Does she think it’s so we can see her face?

The purpose of appearing before the Senate committee is to ascertain how a nominee for the Supreme Court thinks, what their decision process is, how they arrive at decisions, and their belief system.

The reason why it’s so important to find out how a potential member of the Supreme Court believes and thinks is because Supreme Court justices are, once confirmed, on the Court for life or until they voluntarily retire.

Dodging questions or refusing to answer how she feels about issues does not help the Senators nor any of us understand what kind of justice she will be if confirmed.

At one point, Senator Coburn became so frustrated with her equivocation that he let her know it:  ”If I can’t get you to go there, I want to quit and go on to something else, if I can.”

Coburn wrapped up his time raising doubts about Sotomayor.  ”And the problem I’m having is, I really see a dissonance,” Coburn told Sotomayor, “about what you said outside of your jurisprudence,” most likely referring to her “wise Latina” comment.  ”And the only thing…the only ability we have to judge is what that passion has relayed in the past and your statements here, in combination with your judicial practice…I have yet to decide where I’m going on this, because I am still deeply troubled because of the answers I couldn’t get in the 50 minutes…and also deeply troubled because I believe what you’ve spoken to the law students, what you’ve spoken in your writings truly reflect your real passions, which I sometimes find run in conflict with what I think the Constitution has to say.”

Transcipt of Coburn questioning Sotomayor | The Washington Post

 

Will Cheney Be Investigated?

The New York Times reported over the weekend that Vice President Dick Cheney ordered a counterterrorism program be withheld from congressional oversight for almost eight years, following the 9-11 attacks.

Because not even the top members of congressional intelligence committees members were informed, some in Washington, including Senator Diane Feinstein (D – California), think the law might have been broken.

Will Cheney be investigated?

Attorney General Eric Holder is allegedly “leaning” now toward a Special Prosecutor, according to Sunday’s Face the Nation.  Senator Jeff Sessions (R – Alabama), on the same program, referred to “sources, sources” and the fact that nothing about the plan or Cheney’s involvement (or even if he was involved) can be confirmed.  But, when questioned about whether or not officials will be looking into the matter, Sessions, on the same program said, “I’m sure it will be.”

If Cheney did order withholding intelligence info from the Congress, was it illegal?

That will be another matter that will probably herald hearings and debates.  The current law requiring Congressional  oversight and approval of intelligence actions is vague, permitting allowance for national security.

Links:

Cheney Is Linked to Concealment of C.I.A. Project | NY Times

Feinstein Says Law May Have Been Broken | NY Times

Face the Nation – Sunday, July 12, 2009 | CBS News

Cheney ordered intel withheld from Congress-Senator | Reuters