PRESIDENT OBAMA'S HEALTH CARE SPEECH
Here are some brief morning-after impressions about President Barack Obama's address to a joint session of Congress on health care. Overall, he gets an A+ for delivery and a B+ on content. It was the tone that I found most interesting, very candid in its recognition of the political divisions that he is facing both within his own party and with the Republicans.
- Finally, he has done what everyone said should be done, given his own vision of health care reform. There were key markers laid down, some realistic (fixing health care insurance) and some maybe not so realistic (I won't sign a bill that raises the deficit by one dime.)
- There will be some sort of public option in the final bill. It may not be called that and it may not be what anyone today even thinks of as a public option, but there will be something in the bill.
- The president was effective when it came to reminding people what bastards the insurance companies can be and maybe less so in convincing people that a public option which forces insurance companies to compete won't drive them out of business. Somehow the quintessential American virtue of competition has become Old World socialism. Break that linkage and passage is assured.
- The Republicans are off the bus and as far as he is concerned they can stay off if they chose to do so. Anyone wishing to get back on the bus is more than welcome, but the president is not going to wait around for them. And without accusing any specific Republicans of double dealing, he made it clear that those days are over as far as he is concerned.
- The left needs to understand that the bill must be taken as a whole rather than taken apart over a public option. The very usage of the term "the left" I found to be quite striking actually. The not so subliminal message was that if the effort fails, they will take the heat for it within the party.
The debate on health care has been nasty, brutish and anything but short. If this was a college basketball game, I would say we have ended half-time, the coach has given the team a rousing pep talk, and now it is up to them to take the floor and find a way to win. And like any close basketball game, the real action won't take place until the last couple of minutes.
September 10, 2009
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President Obama
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