Monday, July 20, 2009

Obama: healthcare reform "urgent" and "indisputable,"

Obama spoke about healthcare reform again today.



From the LA Times:

Reporting from Washington -- President Obama, calling the need for healthcare reform "urgent" and "indisputable," said today that it is not his own political fortune that is at stake, but rather the health of the nation's economy.

"The need for reform is urgent, and it is indisputable," the president said, in an appearance at the Children's National Medical Center.

"Now, there are some in this town that are content to perpetuate the status quo," said Obama, demanding that Congress act this summer. "There are others who recognize the problem but believe, or perhaps hope, that we can put off the hard work of healthcare reform for another day, another year, another decade."

snip

Shaking his head ruefully, Obama called the Waterloo metaphor into question.

"Think about that," Obama said. "This isn't about me. This isn't about politics. This is about a healthcare system that is breaking America's families," its businesses and its economy.

snip

Obama, who last week started ratcheting up his call for Congress to act on healthcare reform this summer, met with healthcare providers at the Children's National Medical Center before making his public remarks.

"We always knew that passing healthcare reform wouldn't be easy," he said today. "There is a tendency toward inertia in this town. . . . But we are a country that chooses the harder right over the easy wrong."


Are we a "country that chooses the harder right over the easy wrong." I hope so!
Are people going to support this with Obama or will they vote against their own best interest again?





3 comments:

maggiesboy said...

Kinda churns up the way JFK addressed resolving problems. I believe he's got his game face on now.

toniD said...

Jindal Wades Into Health Care Debate
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) "will wade into the national debate over health care this week by penning op-eds in Politico and the Wall Street Journal and appearing on a series of cable chat shows today and tomorrow," the Washington Post reports.

"That Jindal is adding his voice to the chorus of Republican critics of Democrats' approach to President Obama's chief policy priority... is evidence that the youthful governor sees a role for himself in the national policy debate despite a rocky introduction to the country earlier this year."

"Allies of Jindal insist his disappearance from the national stage from February until, well, now, had everything to do with his engagement in the legislative session and nothing at all to do with his lackluster performance."

LINK

toniD said...

Obama Will Rally Troops with DeMint's Comment
Last week, on a conference call with conservative activists dealing with health care reform, Ben Smith reported that Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) said, "If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him."

According to ABC News, you will be hearing that quote this week from the White House as they use it to rally their troops. Officials will says that "those who want to use this issue to break the president are doing nothing but working for insurance companies and insurance executives."

Expect the administration to use Bill Kristol's quote today, as well.

LINK

Quote of the Day
"My advice, for what it's worth: Resist the temptation. This is no time to pull punches. Go for the kill."

-- William Kristol, a key strategist in the defeat of the Clinton health care reform effort in 1993, arguing in the Weekly Standard that "with Obamacare on the ropes, there will be a temptation for opponents to let up on their criticism, and to try to appear constructive, or at least responsible."

LINK