President Barack Obama took direct aim at the vocal opponents who’ve been filling congressional town halls on health care Tuesday, saying despite all the “yelling and the shouting and the noise,” health reform will improve the lives of Americans with and without insurance now.
Obama said special interests who oppose health reform always “try to scare the heck out of folks, and they’ll create boogeymen out there that just aren’t real” to prevent change. He even sought to rebut directly one of the most widespread rumors — that the bills in Congress include so-called death panels to decide how much coverage people can receive.
Obama said critics charge that the government will “basically pull the plug on Grandma, because we’ve decided it’s too expensive to let her live anymore” — and denied there is any such thing in the bills.
“Where we disagree, let’s disagree over things that are real, not these wild misrepresentations that bear no resemblance to what’s been proposed,” Obama said.
It was Obama’s most direct attempt to rebut critics of his health reform plans, and it came at a time when even some health reform supporters fret that critics are gaining momentum. Obama had a friendly audience to test his themes here — an event that stood in sharp contrast to some congressional town halls that have devolved into shouting, like one held just hours before in Pennsylvania by Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter.
Obama’s crowd of about 1,800 — nearly three-quarters of whom received tickets through the White House website — was so friendly that by the end, Obama was soliciting opponents to speak up. “I don’t want people to think I have a bunch of plants in here,” Obama said.
In the end, he fielded no truly hostile questions — though spent much of the town hall on defense, batting down rumors or charges from critics that his solution would balloon the deficit while denying Americans coverage they need. In fact, Obama zeroed in most on the millions of Americans who already have health insurance, saying reform would improve coverage for the insured.
(Source: Politico)
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4 Responses
For 8 years we heard noise from the Democrats about Bush, but as soon as we try to debate the health plan, we are just a distraction. And this is from someone who promised to bring both sides together.
He is arrogant that he can’t believe someone doesn’t see eye-to-eye and therefor they would just follow his lead.
It is interesting in that Obama is campaigning for a “capitalist” solution (limiting the extent the government will pay for expensive treatments that aren’t especially effective, while allowing people to spend their own money for them), and the opponents are demanding creation of a welfare entitlement to have the public fisc pay for any and all treatments. Usually the conservative are supporting frugality in government programs, opposing entitlements, and support a free choice system that allows one to spend your money as you wish, whereas the liberals are usually campaigning for more entitlements.
While I don’t like Obama’s plan, it is good that he realized that controlling health care means telling everyone that just because something is technically possible at an exhorbitent price, doesn’t mean we have to raise taxes in order to buy it. The conservatives should stick to criticizing the plans flaws, instead of the one good thing it does. While allowing those who want to spend their own money to go after high price and experiemental care (or even grasping at staws), the Treasury should be concerned only about the normal level of care.
Q: How can you tell when obama is lying?
A: His lips are moving.
-It may be an old joke, but it’s never been more true!
He lies every time he opens his mouth. A liar lies so much they dont even know HOW to tell the truth. He CONSTANTLY contradicts himself when you compare it with what he has said in the past. You cant claim the cameras/mics are lying.