Community | July 22, 2009 | 9 comments

Obama on health reform: ‘This is not a game’

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/us/politics/23obama.html

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WASHINGTON — President Obama, conceding that ordinary Americans are skeptical of his plan to overhaul the nation’s health care system, sought on Wednesday to convince the public that the changes would benefit them and strengthen the economy.

“Reform is about every American who has ever feared that they may lose their coverage if they become too sick or lose their job or change their job,” Mr. Obama said at a prime time news conference from the East Room of the White House. “It’s about every small business that has been forced to lay off employees or cut back on their coverage, because it became too expensive. It’s about the fact that the biggest driving force behind our federal deficit is the skyrocketing cost of Medicare and Medicaid.”

Mr. Obama used the event, the fifth full-scale White House news conference of his six-month-old presidency, to try to reclaim a debate that has been slipping away from him in recent days.

With Republicans and some moderate Democrats on Capitol Hill balking at both the specifics of the legislation and Mr. Obama’s timetable for House and Senate passage of the bills, the White House is now trying to rally legislative support and public opinion by linking health care to the nation’s economic health and offering the promise of tangible benefits to Americans.

“If we do not control these costs, we will not be able to control our deficit,” he said. “If we do not reform health care, your premiums and out-of-pocket costs will continue to skyrocket.” He acknowledged that Americans were anxious, saying, “Folks are skeptical, and that is entirely legitimate.”

end of excerpt

Source: The New York Times Online
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9 comments // Obama on health reform: ‘This is not a game’

  • unclecharlie
    • 0
      unclecharlie  

    • I just don't see why I should be forced to pay for the abortion of some poor unmarried young Black woman. I despise this veiled racism, and don't see how my tax dollars going to a racist, eugenicist organization like Planned Parenthood is going to help things. ( maybe, as Ruth Bader Ginsburg stated, it will go to "eliminate unwanted populations." - which was her hope originally for Roe vs. Wade) Supporting racism with my tax dollars under guise of "government funded health care is morally repulsive, and I will have nothing to do with it. Other than that, it might have some good aspects.....but then I hear people bring up "socialized medicine" :(

    • 2 years ago
  • cztheday
    • 0
      cztheday  

    • Hmmmm. Democrats have been watching another party "JUST GOVERN." It ran roughshod over any objections, suggestions, negotiations...to the extent it did not even feel bound by the Constitution or such well-established international precedent as the Geneva Conventions.

      Now that party lies bloody and battered on the canvas...a failed and broken mess led by radio and television shock jocks that can command the OSTENSIBLE leaders of the party to kneel and kiss the ring of ignorance and superstition. So we will just have to beg your pardon if we take a more principled approach to governing...and deviate from the example/spectacle before us.

      I admire Obama for having the courage to say these things...but for Republican members of Congress issues like universal healthcare will never be anything BUT a game. There is about as much chance that a Republican member of Congress would care about a poor person obtaining healthcare as there is that the number of words in Palin's vocabulary will ever reach four digits...

    • 2 years ago
  • ocanada
    • 0
      ocanada  
    • cztheday:

      There is a democratic supermajority. Legislation should not require sixty senators. That is a courtesy that Bush never required. The gentlemen's fillibuster is a joke. Making needless concessions to republicans makes for good politics and bad governance. President Obama has tried bipartisanship and now needs some partisan elbow throwing. What idea has any repubican offered that made Obama's healthcare plan better?

    • 2 years ago
  • JonRaymond
  • ocanada
  • JonRaymond
    • 0
      JonRaymond  
    • Image

    • Great speech and conference. Obama answered every question, again. How many time does he have to repeat himself?

      I especially was happy to hear him say he will not sign any bill that doesn't lower health care costs for the average American. He also said the status quo is not working and that all side agree on that. So if everyone agrees that something must be done, what's the problem with getting on with it.

      He mentioned that there is Republican sentiment that they want him to fail and that's why they oppose his plan. So obviously they believe if his plan is adopted it will be a success. I'd call that as much of a Republican concession as we'll ever get.

      What Republicans really have a problem with is Obama's agreement on the part of the proposed plan that would tax those who make over one million dollars. It would also force insurance companies to be competitive instead of enjoying the monopolistic control over health care they now have. He noted that insurance companies have had record profits in the past year while the rest of America languishes in a near depression (my words).

      "We will pass reform that lowers cost, promotes choice, and provides coverage that every American can count on." - President Obama

      Get over it blue dogs. The big dog won and he is the President. Either run with him or stay on the porch.

    • 2 years ago
  • ocanada
    • 0
      ocanada  

    • I thought that this press conference wasn't the best idea. Judging form the media reaction it was a terrible one. This didn't make anyone more likely to support healthcare. He didn't put pressure on republicans or moderate democrats. It was worthless from a policy standpoint.

      As it stands the senate is going on recess. He could have suspended it and made news, he did not. Don't expect any meaningful results now.

      I hate spineless do nothing democrats. Pathetic. Just pathetic, I wonder what pissant excuse will get trotted out if this fails. Whatever it is it won't work. Democrats are seemingly never going to learn thier lesson and just GOVERN without worrying about what the republicans have to say. They won a supermajority for a reason!

    • 2 years ago
  • kennymotown
    • 0
      kennymotown  

    • The press conference was needed but the talk that is needed got to complicated. 42 million illiterate Americans and 50 million more that are borderline illiterate most didn't even know how badly they got fucked over the last eight years, how were these same retards that hate Obama because he is not white ever going to understand the nuances of the mafia health care system we have now and how his plan will be a good start to fixing it. And the sad part is Bubba down in Arkabama doesn't get the point President Obama is trying to help him.

    • 2 years ago
  • ocanada
    • 0
      ocanada  
    • kennymotown:

      a little too harsh. Thats the type of talk that made midwesterners vote against thier economic interests. Liberal talk can sound like assinine garbage sometimes when it gets down to insults. You don't govern with insults, and you sure as hell don't win.

    • 2 years ago
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