Is Bliss

Maybe... just maybe... after tonight, I'll be back to my smurfy alter ego. I don't know. It depends on whether or not somebody does or says something stupid. Maybe... just maybe.. I'll take a break from CNN and all the other news outlets. It's quite obvious that a sizeable number of the American populace has chosen to do the same. I would also include an entire network.

The Fox Network is choosing not to run President Obama's health care address tonight. They are also the only network that is choosing not to run it. I could do a whole post on FOX News, but I won't... this issue is too important. I personally don't watch anything on that network. I refuse. As much as I love the Simpsons, I won't watch that network. I catch the Simpsons reruns on Nick. Anyway, here is what you will miss if you choose to watch Fox tonight...

President Barack Obama is beset by conflicting goals in a prime-time address tonight, which is expected to detail just how he wants to expand health care coverage and lower medical costs while signaling to a deeply divided Congress that he's ready to deal. And also, to show the public that he's in control. Even as the president prepares to speak to lawmakers and a live television audience, the leader of the influential Senate Finance Committee is trying to broker a bipartisan agreement on the president's top domestic priority.

The White House has set a high bar for the rare presidential address to a joint session of Congress, acknowledging the huge stakes and creating huge expectations about the level of specificity President Obama would provide. The president has stressed repeatedly the broad goals for the sweeping health care overhaul he is seeking but, has left the details to lawmakers. Through a hot summer of angry debate, it has appeared at times that he has lost his grip on the process but, he is aiming to reclaim it at a pivotal moment and open a final push for the bill.

During an interview for broadcast Wednesday on ABC's "Good Morning America" in which he previewed the themes of his speech, President Obama said... "We do intend to get something done this year. I'm open to new ideas. We're not being rigid and ideological about this thing." With the approximately 35-minute speech still being written, much by President Obama himself, White House officials said the president will "answer all the major questions", including the sticky issue of how to pay for getting coverage for the 50 million Americans who lack it.

David Axelrod, senior advisor for President Obama, said... "Everyone who listens will understand that his plan has at its core two overriding goals — to bring stability and security to Americans who have insurance today, and affordable coverage to those who don't." Did you guys in "Right" Amerika get that? The world as you know it is not coming to an end. America is not becoming a communist satellite.

It is unlikely that President Obama would issue explicit veto threats, as he prefers to focus on what he is for rather than on what he will refuse to support, aides said. He also wasn't delivering a piece of legislation to Capitol Hill, where three House committees and one in the Senate already have devised their own, partisan versions.

President Obama will appear before lawmakers a day after their return from an August recess marked by contentious town halls, misinformation, and confusion about what a health care overhaul may look like. We can thank the Fox Network's talking heads for that misinformation. How ironic that they are choosing not to show his speech. I guess they're afraid someone might find out the truth... a word they don't seem to know the meaning of at that station.

A senior administration official said that President Obama has ceased worrying about whether he gets any Republican participation. "If they don't want to, we can't worry about that," said the official, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to more freely discuss behind-the-scenes thinking. I have been feeling that same sentiment since Al Franken got elected. You have a majority like no other president has ever had. Use it!

I'm writing this before the president delivers his speech. He'll no doubt be trying to reach three audiences:

1. Regular voters... people with good common sense who don't watch the Fox Networks. His job will be to convince them that they can keep the coverage they have if they are satisfied with it but, if they're not, they can be covered. He's also going to have to show them where his plan and initiative will cut costs in the long run.

2. Progressives and people on the "Left"... his largest base of support when he was running for election. They are interested in knowing his ideas on the so-called "Public Option." Can the president sell the Left on near universal health coverage and lower costs without
a "public option" (more on that in a later post).

3. Conservatives... intelligent conservatives who also don't watch the Fox Network and read a book occasionally. Understandably, they are just worried about a plan that is a little confusing and a bit murky. If he can get rid of some of their fears and get some of them to go along with his plan then, he can get moving on finally solving the nation's health care coverage problem... something four U.S. presidents before him wrestled with.

Of course, if you watch the Fox Network tonight, you'll miss all of this. Maybe they'll show a Simpsons rerun so you can at least have a good laugh because you know what they say... Ignorance is bliss!