Health care reform is back in the news! Obama has unveiled his new health care reform plan -- which is just a recycled version of the old Senate bill, tweaked a little bit to satisfy liberal House Democrats. The White House and the Democratic leadership in Congress have made it clear they are willing to move forward without Republican support and are trying to push it through using a budget tool called reconciliation which enables the bill to pass the Senate without requiring 60 votes. Obama is also holding a sham health care summit with Republicans to try to hoodwink the dumbest voters into thinking he is "bipartisan."
I don't know whether this legislative effort will succeed or not. I'm sure the Democrats can get 51 votes in the Senate for the bill, but I'm not sure they can get the required 218 votes in the House. The House health care bill passed back in November with 220 votes, two votes to spare. Since then, one of those 220 congressmen has died, one has resigned, and one has changed his vote. In addition, Bart Stupak and at least a couple other pro-life Democrats who previously voted for the House bill will not vote for the bill that Obama has presented because it provides taxpayer funding for abortion. This means the Democrats must persuade at least four of the forty or so Democrats that previously voted against the bill to vote for it, without losing any other votes of Democrats who previously voted for it. This is no easy task, since the health care reform bill is even more politically toxic today than it was back in November.
So maybe the Democrats will succeed, maybe they won't. I pray for the sake of our country's future that they don't. But whether they succeed or not, this move is political suicide for them. Obama and the Democrats in Congress have not deviated even the slightest bit from their intention to pass a trillion dollar comprehensive, government-run health care reform bill from the day they first unveiled this legislation back in June 2009. Since then, we have had spontaneous Tea Party demonstrations and a march on Washington with close to half a million people showing up. We have had hundreds of town hall meetings around the country, with large numbers of people showing up in Democrat and Republican states and districts to voice their anger over the health care bill. We have had poll after poll after poll showing sizable and consistent majorities of Americans oppose the Democrats' approach to health care reform. We had devastating Democratic losses in three states that previously voted for Obama -- Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. The Massachusetts result was most compelling, as one of the most Democratic electorates in the country voted for a Republican who explicitly promised to be the 41st vote against the health care bill. And the Democrats act as though nothing has happened. Nothing. From their behavior, it might as well be June 2009. Despite the intense opposition and anger of the American people, the defeats at the ballot box, the necessity of bypassing normal Senate rules, and the peril many of their incumbents face in this year's election, Obama, Reid, and Pelosi will get their precious comprehensive health care reform passed. In the immortal words of Nancy Pelosi, "You go through the gate. If the gate’s closed, you go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we’ll pole-vault in. If that doesn’t work, we’ll parachute in. But we’re going to get health care reform passed for the American people.” She forgot to add the words "whether they want it or not."
As I said before, this is political suicide for the Democrats. You cannot pass a bill which nearly half of all Americans "strongly" oppose and only 20% of all Americans "strongly" support and not expect to pay a price for it, especially when the bill in question is this large, important, and high-profile. By my count, at least 50 to 60 Democratic House seats are vulnerable in the 2010 election, and that list could grow as more GOP challengers jump into the fray. The Republicans only have 5 or 6 vulnerable seats to defend. Most of the vulnerable Democratic House seats are in districts that John McCain won in 2008 (a time in which Obama was far more popular with the public than he is now) and almost all of them are in districts that George W. Bush won in 2004. Many of these Democrats are going to have to defend their vote in favor of health care reform or cap-and-trade or both, and both of those pieces of legislation are intensely unpopular back home. Unemployment is in double digits in most of their districts, with little hope of improvement in the near future. Political prognosticator Charlie Cook said recently that if current trends continue, it's hard for him to see how the Democrats will keep control of the House. And remember, most gubernatorial and state legislature seats are up for grabs this election cycle as well. If the GOP wipes out at the ballot box in these races, they will control House redistricting that could put them in a strong position for the next decade. But Obama and Pelosi and Reid are purposely sticking their finger in the public's eye in an election year, just to pass their agenda. I'm just left shaking my head. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind seeing the Democrats self-destruct like this. But I just can't believe they are being this stupid and defiant toward the will of the American people. I can't believe I ever thought Obama was a smart politician.
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10 comments:
Obama has one thing in mind and that is making American into a cradle to grave socialist state. He is not a centrist by any means and if you can't tell by now, he doesnt care about bypartisanship. All he cares about is passing his socialist policies.
The sky is falling, the sky is falling! I used to love that Chicken Little story. More of that conservative propaganda to incite fear into the American public. I don't even know why they call you guys "conservatives". There is nothing "conservative" about your group. There have been mentions in this blog of wanting "take arms and fight back" The Glenn Becks and Rush Limbaughs of this world scare me. I have seen the "conservative" rallies with Obama black-faced and even dressed like a monkey and please don't say they are an isolated group because the "conservatives" are already an isolated group based on their demographic makeup. It has been a year in Obama's term as president and yet still America is still standing. Where is the socialism and Marxism that was predicted a year ago by you so called "conservatives" when he came into power? The sky is falling!
Island Boy, why do you want more and more government control in your life? Everything Obama wants to put in place is not new, in fact it has been tried elsewhere in the world and has always failed. The sky may not be falling, but your personal freedom is shrinking.
Island Boy, the only propaganda on this blog is the implication you made in your post that conservatives favor the violent overthrow of government and hate Obama because he's black. No one on this blog advocates violence or racism. Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh do not advocate violence or racism. They are engaging in their constitutional right to speak out against what the government is doing. Remember the days when "dissent was patriotic" -- you know back when Bush was president? I'm not inciting fear into anybody. The American people aren't afraid. They're angry. They're angry at what Obama and the Democrats are doing to this country. They're angry that government spending is out of control, the deficit is going through the roof, and personal liberties are being eroded. They have made their voice heard several times and will make it heard in an even bigger way in November. The only people who should be afraid are the arrogant members of Congress who think that the taxpayers' hard-earned money belongs to them and that they can do whatever they want regardless of what their constituents want. The anger in this country is very real, Island Boy. You can hide your head in the sand all you want, but the tidal wave is coming and there are going to be a lot of unemployed members of Congress by the end of this year.
Island Boy, I appreciate comments from readers who don't necessarily agree with us (it gets a little boring in here with just the three writers who basically agree with each other), but your comments are nothing but a generalization based on a small number of people. I seem to remember quite a few people likening George Bush to a monkey. Should I judge all liberals based on the actions of a few people, then?
Some Dude is right, Island Boy. It is nice to have dissenting opinions on this blog, and it takes some courage to voice your opinions in a forum like this when you know your position is the minority one. But your insinuations about the conservative movement are really off base. Would you like it if I said that the New Black Panther Party speaks for all African-Americans? I don't think you would -- yet that is just as plausible as saying that a few random racist protestors on a street corner represent the conservative movement in America.
I am just trying to balance out this blog. There are always two sides to a coin. Personally, I don't feel that my freedom is shrinking but at the same time I am for health care reform based on personal situations in dealing with the insurance companies. Most of my opinions are personal in matter and you are right I should not generalize but let me ask you this. Why is the conservative/republican movement mostly white? The last time I checked, America is a melting pot.
Response to Nate Dawg:
So let me get this straight, the American public is angry at government spending all of sudden. The American government has been creating deficits for decades now. And don't forget that George Bush left us with a 1.6 trillion dollar deficit. But I guess you did not have an issue with that because it was spent on wars. Nate Dawg, please expand on how our personal liberties? Did something happen to you or your loved ones recently for you to make that statement? I am not hiding my head in the sand. I just don't dedicate as much time as you into politics. Democrats are no better than Republicans and vice versa. They are all corrupt. Democratic, we had John Edwards and Republican we had Mark Stanford.
Also, with regards to race, I am not saying the conservative movement is all racists but for a person of color to see some of that stuff in rallies is not very inviting to join the movement. A perfect example of this problem is Obama victory speech versus John McCain concession speech. In Obama's crowd there were whites and minorities while at the same time at McCain camp not a single minority in side when they went through the crowd.
As for November, you are right the Republicans will grab seats but don't give them that much credit. Americans are fickle voters. If they don't like something they look to the other party. People got fedup of Bush and did not want any more Republican rule so they voted for Obama. If after four years they don't like Obama, watch and see they will vote Republican!!!
Then maybe this blog will come to an end. Just joking.
Island Boy, with your personal experiences in dealing with health insurance companies, why would you think it would be any better if the government was running the show?
Another point is that Obama and the democrats are using Medicare as the plan for this government run plan. If you dont know, Medicare is bankrupt. I thought our leadership was supposed to be intelligent. What person in their right mind would take the business plan of a failed company and use it to start a new company? Anyone with a brain could tell you that the same failed plan that failed in the past will fail again.
But lets just assume that our leaders, I guess they are leaders, are intelligent. If they understand that Medicare is bankrupt, then why would they use its business plan for Obamacare? There has to be some other reason. And unfortunately, based on Obama's past, it can only because he is a hard leftist and socialist and his philosophy is based on government control of everything. You may not feel the effects just yet or never in your lifetime. But your children will and their children will.
This is just something to think about. You may want to research communism and socialism. Then research Obama's past as a community organizer and his link to the likes of Bill Ayers (domestic terrorist) and Van Jones (self avowed communist). You may soon change your mind about Obama.
Thanks for that intelligent insight Anonymous.
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