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2/8/2010
So, GOP gets invited to a health-care summit. Whoop-te-doo
Yup. The President wants to “consult closely with our Republican colleagues…” and of course, he wants to “consult closely” (yeah, right) with the GOP on live TV – a half-day (!) televised summit on health care February 25. Live. With of course, the all-powerful one in complete control of the conversation.
"What I want to do is to ask them to put their ideas on the table. . . . I want to come back and have a large meeting, Republicans and Democrats, to go through, systematically, all the best ideas that are out there and move it forward."
I didn’t appreciate his highly-acclaimed 90-minute “discussion” with Republicans in the House and I don’t appreciate it now. This will be Obama’s show.
The exchange with Rep. Jeb Hensarling (Obama called him “Jim”) from that Obama-led made-for-TV performance in Baltimore really bugged me.
Mr. President, a year ago I had an opportunity to speak to you about the national debt. And something that you and I have in common is we both have small children. And I left that conversation really feeling you're sincere commitment to ensuring that our children, our nation's children do not inherit an unconscionable debt. We know that under current law that government -- the cost of government is due to grow from 20 percent of our economy to 40 percent of our economy right about the time our children are leaving college and getting that first job.
Mr. President, shortly after that conversation a year ago, the Republicans proposed a budget that ensured that government did not grow beyond the historical standard of 20 percent of GDP. It was a budget that actually froze immediately non-defense discretionary spending. It spent $5 trillion less than ultimately what was enacted into law.
And unfortunately, I believe that budget was ignored.
And since that budget was ignored, what were the old annual deficits under Republicans have now become the monthly deficits under Democrats. The national debt has increased 30 percent.
Now, Mr. President, I know you believe -- and I understand the argument; I respect the view -- that the spending is necessary due to the recession. Many of us believe, frankly, it's part of the problem, not part of the solution, but I understand and I respect your view.
But this is what I don't understand, Mr. President. After that discussion, your administration proposed a budget that would triple the national debt over the next 10 years. Surely you don't believe 10 years from now we will still be mired in this recession. It proposed new entitlement spending and moved the -- the cost of government to almost 24.5 percent of the economy.
….You are soon to submit a new budget, Mr. President. Will that new budget, like your old budget, triple the national debt and continue to take us down the path of increasing the cost of government to almost 25 percent of our economy? That's the question, Mr. President.
So Obama chides Hensarling:
All right. Jim (sic), with all due respect, I've just got to take this last question as an example of how it's very hard to have the kind of bipartisan work that we're going to do, because the whole question was structured as a talking point for running -- running a campaign.
And proceeds to answer him – with no opportunity for debate of course – in 615 words – words that sounded for all the world like – running a campaign. Imagine that. The transcript is here – you can read Obama’s response on your own. Read too, Rep. Ryan’s not allowing inaccuracies to stand. Good for him.
Chris Stirewalt, writing in the Washinton Examiner, had it exactly right last week in defining President Obama’s version of “bipartisanship.”
…daring Republicans to offer their policy views so that he can discredit them.
You might call it punching-bag bipartisanship. The president and his party believe that by eliciting Republican policy ideas they can remind Americans how much they hate the GOP.
So GOP – be careful of your backsides. Obama is of course an ideologue – and a crafty, media-seeking one at that.
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
The Republican party is not interested in any comprehensive health care reform that gets at the heart of the costs and inequities and there are some individual Democrats who share that goalalso. Therefore there is paralysis and the idea that the Senate is the saucer where the tea cools is replaced with the idea that the Senate is the place where a minority can dictate legislation to the majority or paralyze the country. Lets have a real filibuster like it used to be . Lets have a health care bill that is filibustered day and night, passages read out of the newspaper and the bible etc. Let all other business grind to a halt. Let the American people see this paralysis for what it really is. Now that would be the real truth. Get rid of the 1975 (?) rule that changed the nature of filibusters.
dave allen (Mon Feb 08 06:44:01 2010)
So then..., will the Republicans be allowed to shout out, "You Lie!" whenever The One spews a whopper again? Probably not.
I watched part of the made-for-TV conversation with the Republicans, and (liberals please cover this part of your computer monitor) the President lied right through his whistling teeth when he claimed the healthcare reform process was transparent because there were public hearings held. To me, and most reasonable people, transparent would mean Nancy and Harry are not allowed to go behind locked doors with a handful of Democrats and lobbyists to ask, "Now, what do you guys have to get out of this bill?"
What good does it do to give President Gumby an opportunity to twist and bend every which way in front of a camera, just to come out and say he's been totally tansparent, totally open with the Republicans, and THEY are the party of no. The loyal opposition needs to stay in the opposition on the health insurance scam until the Congress is more closely balanced and real discussion can take place.
Duke (Mon Feb 08 07:24:03 2010)
Well I for one am happy to see the process play out on TV - contrived or not.
I want to see the Republicans display the necessary spine to say NO to socialist health care. Just say NO. That's what I want, and I don't believe I'm going very far out on a limb when I say there are other principled individuals who are like-minded.
I'm proud of the party of NO ... as long as they are consistent and don't make exceptions for their 'well connected buddies'. I wish they'd say NO more often, quite honestly. Say NO until there's NO more deficit, say NO until there's NO more debt. We shouldn't be making Sasha and Mahlia (SP?) pay for their daddy's insatiable addiction to spend. NO - what we're doing is wrong.
Want a real fix for the problem - sure, we can have that conversation ... but what's on the table now is "same old, same old" throw money at it and call it a day politics. Reactionary legislation has never in the history of this republic provided a "fix" for anything.
Jeff Riedl (Mon Feb 08 08:55:34 2010)
I just read a very interesting article by David Kupelian, "The Crisis Creators" which explains the need for statists to create crises, so they can grab more power. And another one by former White House economist, James Simpson, in which he points out that Medicare and Medicaid spending have increased by an annual rate of 8.5% (triplr the rate of the rest of the economy), while the doctor performing surgery gets reimbursed only about $700 to &1200 per Medicare patient.
It is true that doctors don't get much reimbursement from the government: I know a family practice MD who said he gets the equivalent of $13 to $15 per hour for Medicare/aid patients. That's less than what a CNA who works for a temp agency earns!
So obviously, the government is keeping a lot of the money (surprise, surprise) that goes into Medicare/aid, which are already bankrupt and soon-to-be completely unfunded. And they want to expand to total control for 4% of the population?! Of course, that's what a good statist will do.
And it's Democrats (and probably Republicans too) like John Edwards who made sure that the number of uninsured rose in the first place. He made millions suing not only doctors, but also nurses, hospitals, and anybody else he could sue, especially in the fields of OB-GYN and neurosurgery.
So what happens when ambulance-chasers like Edwards sue?
--Malpractice insurance rates skyrocket
--Added costs drive up the cost of healthcare, as doctors will pass on their additional overhead to insurance companies
--The insurance companies raise their rates, which then results in some companies being unable to afford insurance for their employees
The solutions for this would be to have caps on malpractice suits so that $154 billion spent on avoiding liability could be reduced, thus driving down the cost of malpractice insurance. Also, to require all health care providers to force those coming to them to prove they are LEGAL immigrants; illegals being a large fraction of the total uninsured. And finally, to do away with third party "health" insurance--whether private or through the gov't--, and replace it with major medical only.
When doctors are paid directly by their patients, it WILL bring down costs automatically. Look at vets: vet school costs just as much as med school, and is harder to get into, yet they charge only $50-$75 per HOME VISIT, something drs don't even do anymore; whereas a simple office visit to a dr costs $140-$160. Think middlemen don't have anything to do with this? Think again!
emily matthews (Mon Feb 08 09:33:46 2010)
It's the attitude reflected in the title of this commentary that really pisses off independents.
Clearly the message from many, including some who have responded to this commentary, is they want no health care reform period...despite an overwhelming consensus of the people in the U.S.
The President has decided that health care reform is a critical social issue and wants to pursue some tangible action.
So the stage is set for a standoff. Two sides diametrically opposed.
In frustration the President will press for his agenda using whatever advantages his office provides and the opposition will do likewise. Meanwhile we independents grow increasingly angry at the inability of politicians to lead or govern.
In a sane and civil society, the issue of health care reform congizant of the challenges of debt implications could be debated and some reasonable, albeit imperfect, solution found.
But as we are seeing increasingly, the leadership of this country and many of the screamers in the populace are more concerned about their own pocketbooks than the well-being of society in general.
Read your history. The factors are coming into place for the rapid decline of the once "greatest" nation in the world.
Thanks selfish ones!
Dennis (Mon Feb 08 09:43:42 2010)
And all of this discussion without mention of the $125 million in cash bribes from the insurance and pharmaceutical industries? My, my.
Yea, it's old stuff, but it's continuing and cannot be ignored. Get the bribes out of the system and then let the chips fall where they may. If the right is really right, they'll get their way. They won't have to buy it.
Jack Lohman (Mon Feb 08 10:06:52 2010)
The GOP has been giving the President and the Dems sound HC proposals all along, and folks in Wisconsin certainly OUGHT to be well aware because one of the most articulate for a very long time has been Wisconsin's Paul Ryan (Roadmap for the GOP). Health care is an issue where conservative policy wonks have been creatively at work for a decade. The political fight, however, remains lopsided in Obama's favor. It's about political power more than improving treatment options for everyday Americans.
But the administration, the Dems in Congress AND the media have chosen to ignore the GOP proposals, believing they were not needed and irrelevant.
The most recent attempt to put forth HC and GOP solutions is the BETTER SOLUTIONS: A Compilation of GOP Alternatives, prepared by John Boehner's office and presented to Obama publicly.
This new health-care summit is merely for show. Recall the May, 2009 Letter to President Obama seeking Meeting on Health Care Reform. Recall House GOP Health Care Reform Bill, H.R. 4038 introduced November, 2009. For years, the GOP has been submitting legislation to permit the sale of health insurance across state lines.
All is ignored. Read what Rep. John Fleming has written, what Oklahoma's Sen. Coburn has done.
It's been known for a long time that the Progressives want "the whole enchilada" -- they want to take over the ENTIRE HC sector and toss in lots of benefits to their special interest groups in the process.
Jan Taylor (Mon Feb 08 10:09:44 2010)
There is the party of NO (Republicans) and then there is the party of NO WAY (Democrats) that will never allow any Republican ideas to see the light of day.
Edward Jensen (Mon Feb 08 11:15:33 2010)
I disagree with you Dave. The Republican Party is interested in health insurance and health care cost reform. Must that be "comprehensive reform" that hands all the marbles to the government? No. Now, a real filibuster - yes, that would be great. Let's read the many bills and their management amendments aloud,. and interspersed among them, the Constitution.
Yes Jeff, Republicans will hopefully show spine - but they will have little (no?) opportunity to negotiate the terms of debate - which are critical.
Dennis, it's time you got off your selfish kick and proposed solutions - more than just whining about those you perceive have wronged you. Health care costs must be brought under control - what would you suggest?
Now Emily provides solutions. Thanks Emily. Jan's words are clearly eloquent because she agrees with me! Edward's a little more succinct, but right on nonetheless. Thanks all, for the discussion!
Jo (Mon Feb 08 11:36:17 2010)
May I ask that if this bill is so good for all of us, why has Congress exempted themselves and certain groups from this wonderful healthcare plan?
Or does this fit right in with the socialist oligarchical plan to make us all miserable equally while our "betters" live lives the way they like.
The Global Warmists are typical of this mindset. We should not drive cars we want, use lightbulbs we want, recycle everything, turn down the heat and sit around wrapped in "snugglies" or follow the precepts of recent lunatics who wish us to go barefoot at all times or not heat our houses in the winter.
However, our "betters" fly around in jets, own huge houses and are driven by limousines from one place to another as they spout their craziness.
Because, you understand, they have no intention of following any of these plans at all and that includes this miserable socialist "healthcare" deception put out there to bamboozle the unknowing public. It makes for sure Democrat votes if the rest of the country doesn't learn about it.
Thank God, it did.
C.R. Stevenson (Mon Feb 08 12:39:05 2010)
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