http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/health/policy/16address.html
Now our Prez tells us to shut up. Wonderful. What's next?
For you BO fans… today he’s telling us to shut up. Tomorrow if you don’t like what he’s doing, he’ll tell you to shut up, too. Think about it.
Not that this is ever acceptable in our free speech society, where political speech above all, is the most cherished and protected, but if at least BO would have been right about any one thing that he's said or done in the last 6 months, he might perhaps give some people pause to reconsider their position. Not only is that not the case, but for the President of the United States to tell ANY American citizen to shut up is downright despicable. It should not be tolerated by anyone.
Moving on, let’s look at the stellar examples he gives to support his position for national health care:
"“When President Roosevelt was working to create Social Security, opponents warned it would open the door to ‘federal snooping’ and force Americans to wear dog tags,” Mr. Obama said. “When President Kennedy and President Johnson were working to create Medicare, opponents warned of ‘socialized medicine.’ Sound familiar?”"
Remove the exaggerations, and you’re left with: Social security and Medicare. Yea.
Here are two programs that are going belly up as we speak. Medicare is also cutting back on coverage for seniors. So, modeled after these programs, we are to conclude that our proposed national health care system is going to be broke, won't provide all the services we need, and won’t support the next generation of citizens who are going to pay for it now. BO's example. Not mine.
His other fine example was comparing national health care to the US postal service, and how FedEx and UPS coexist and compete. Well there it is. That’s the closest comparison yet from him. USPS: Long lines, lost mail, and grouchy and belligerent personnel. FedEx and UPS: Take your pick, but they’re both trying to outdo each other in customer service and technology, and most businesses use one or the other, but not the USPS. So substitute USPS with national health care, FedEx with Blue Cross, and UPS with Aetna (or whatever), and there you go. The only other problem is that BO has said on multiple occasions (something he now denies.. another lie) that he ultimately wants a 1-payor system. So in my example, remove FedEx and UPS, and you're left with...
Are we that dumb?
I thought people said BO was intelligent.
Can this get much worse?
I’m afraid to think about the answer.
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Just so you don't have to feel too angry, too long: I read the article, and here's the quote the headline was taken from...
"Mr. Obama conceded that there was “plenty of real concern and skepticism out there,” and that some Americans did not believe government should take a role in solving the health care problem. “These are legitimate differences worthy of the real discussion that America deserves,” he said, “one where we lower our voices, listen to one another, and talk about differences that really exist.”"
So, you can immediately feel better that he did not trample the first amendment (which would certainly piss me off too!).
As for health care: I like that FedEx and UPS bend over backwards in customer service. As it should be in a Capitalist society. I wish my health insurance company would get that fire under their butt! Now, I call them to ask where the check is and... crickets... chirp, chirp... I can't get a person on the phone. Frankly, I'd LOVE it if my health insurance company decided to step up customer service a bit a-la FedEx.
FYI: I like to have replied on the web site, but I can't paste into it, and as I started in an email reply, there I stay...
Tom, thanks for the note.
ReplyDeleteWhat concerns me is that when our President says we need to lower our voices and listen to each other, I'm assuming he's including himself in this. So how does he intend to do his part? He's out there campaigning like its election day again. Isn't it Congress's role to introduce and pass legislation? And these rigged town hall meetings, with pre-screened people and questions, are a joke.
So that leaves us with his first comment about piping down.
Moreover, while we all have anecdotal problems with our health insurers, and probably all favor some kind of health care reform, it seems absolutely crazy to address these problems by scrapping our entire system and replacing it with something that, at best, will perform as well as our current system, but at worst, will be a disaster, and leave us bankrupt. Can't we address the current system instead?
This just doesn't make sense to me. And I'm getting annoyed at BO's Chicago-style tactics.