He We Go Again!

President Obama pushed back hard against Republican critics of his health care overhaul plan on Monday, vowing to fight “the politics of the moment”, but also giving ground on his tight timetable for passage of legislation. After meeting with doctors, nurses, and other health care workers at Children's National Medical Center, Obama said... "We can't afford the politics of delay and defeat when it comes to health care. There are too many lives and livelihoods at stake."

Without mentioning his critic by name, the president recounted South Carolina Republican Senator Jim DeMint's comment that stopping Obama's bid for health care overhaul could be the president's "Waterloo" (a reference to the site of Napoleon's bitter defeat). He's a better man than me because I would be calling all of these guys out. We know that they have a financial stake in all of this mess. Would somebody say lobby? Okay, then I will. I'm taking off the gloves here because I'm tired of giving these fools a free pass. I've been smurfy for about two weeks... "The Maverick..." is back and I'm putting everybody on notice. With that out of the way, let me get back to what the President was saying...

Obama responded, "This isn't about me. This isn't about politics. It is about a health care system that is breaking American families." Striking a more populist tone than in past remarks, President Obama complained that “health insurance companies and their executives have reaped windfall profits from a broken system.” He criticized those “fighting reform on behalf of powerful special interests” and others out to put off action for “another day, another year, another decade". Obama continued... “Let’s fight our way through the politics of the moment. Let’s pass reform by the end of this year.” This reflects a shift in his repeated timetable.

President Obama said previously that he wanted the House and Senate to vote on legislation before lawmakers leave town for their August recess, with a comprehensive bill for him to sign in October. Obama spoke after the chairman of the Republican Party called the president's push for health care overhaul "socialism" and accused him of conducting a risky experiment that will hurt the economy and force millions to drop their current coverage.




In remarks at the National Press Club, GOP Chairperson Michael Steele said that the President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California), and key congressional committee chairmen are part of a "cabal" that wants to implement government-run health care. He also said "Obama and Pelosi want to start building a colossal, closed health care system where Washington decides. Republicans want and support an open health care system where patients and doctors make the decisions." This is the biggest line of bull I've heard yet. "Patients and doctors make the decisions"??? When is the last time your doctor asked you what you think about the decisions made in his office that effect your well-being and your wallet? More than likely, you are told how it's going to be and told that you don't have a choice in the matter.

When asked if President Obama's health care plan represented socialism, Steele responded: "Yes. Next question." Who does Michael Steele love when he makes statements like that which he knows isn't true? You know, just a few months ago, this brother was in the hot seat in his own party and wasn't allowed to attend one of their rallies. They opted instead for TV talking head Sean Hannity. I suppose Brother Steele (and I'm still gonna call him brother) thinks that by making ludicrous statements, he can earn his way back into the big house. Well, only time will tell.

President Obama is struggling to advance his trademark health care proposal after a period of evident progress. Two of three House committees have approved their portions of the bill, while one of two Senate panels have acted. A Washington Post-ABC News survey released Monday shows approval of President Obama’s handling of health care reform slipping below 50 percent for the first time. The poll had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The president, who spent most of last week making his plea for health care overhaul, was pressing his case hard again this week... first at the children’s hospital, later this week in a prime-time news conference on Wednesday, and a town hall in Ohio on Thursday. Conservative Democrats have raised objections to some elements of the legislation and efforts in the Senate to reach a bipartisan agreement have yet to bear fruit.

Nancy Pelosi is floating an idea that could make proposed tax increases more palatable to conservative Democrats. Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said on Monday that she would like to limit income tax increases to couples making more than $1 million a year and individuals making more than $500,000 a year. The bill passed by the House Ways & Means Committee last week would increase taxes on couples making as little as $350,000 a year and individuals making as little as $280,000. Daly said that Pelosi wants to make up the lost revenue by getting health care providers to agree to additional cost savings... although, he did not have an estimate on how much additional savings would be needed.

The original tax proposal would raise $544 billion over the next decade. More than 90% of the money would come from couples making more than $1 million a year and individuals making more than $500,000, according to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center. This means Pelosi would have to find just under $50 billion in additional savings.

The Republican officials said they were supplementing Steele's speech with a round of television advertising designed to oppose government-run health care. The 30-second commercial, titled "Grand Experiment", criticizes recent government aid to the auto industry and banks as "the biggest spending spree in our history" and warns similarly of a "risky experiment with our health care." Of course, they don't mention that there would be no need for this "spending spree" if they had taken care of business properly when they had the reigns of power, do they?

The GOP ads show children who presumably would be burdened as adult taxpayers with the cost of the health care overhaul. The commercials are being broadcast in Nevada, home of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, as well Arkansas and North Dakota, states represented in the Senate by moderate Democrats. The ad is also being posted on the internet, in coordination with a grass-roots campaign. The insurance industry, which challenged President Bill Clinton's health care effort in the early 1990s, launched a $1.4 million ad campaign, its first TV ads of this year's health care fight.

Here we go again! If this ad campaign succeeds, the Republicans will have won but, you and I will lose. Millions of people will still be without health care and those with it, will still play the "pill games" and watch money fly out of their pockets. All the while, still not feeling any better and we'll be right back where we started. Nowhere!

I'm going to start exercising and drinking plenty of orange juice while they hash this out! My plan is to try like hell not to get sick.

(A public service announcement from the Maverick of All Bloggers!)