At Last, Firing Back on Health Reform (E.J. Dionne)

[jefferson_dem]

At Last, Firing Back on Health Reform
By E.J. Dionne Jr.
Thursday, September 10, 2009

After a listless summer during which his opponents dominated the health-care debate, President Obama used a dramatic appearance before Congress on Wednesday to seize control of the autumn, the season of decision for the initiative he has turned into the central test of his presidency.

Having avoided specifics in order to give the House and Senate room to legislate, he piled on the details, openly battling the "blizzard of charges and counter-charges," out of which, he said, "confusion has reigned."

It was a speech designed to clear the air by sweeping aside misconceptions about what he was for, reassuring senior citizens about the future of Medicare and insisting that the alternative to reform was a steady deterioration in the coverage Americans enjoy.

He also hit back hard against distortions and outright lies. "Instead of honest debate, we have seen scare tactics," Obama declared. "Too many have used this as an opportunity to score short-term political points, even if it robs the country of our opportunity to solve a long-term challenge."

By joining specifics, a powerful moral argument and an unapologetic defense of government's role in promoting social justice, the president sought to rescue the health-care debate from the mire of a congressional system that has encouraged delay and obstruction. By putting himself on the line, he sought to restore his reputation for political mastery and to rekindle some of the magic he had conjured during a presidential campaign built on the expansive themes of change and hope.

He offered a robust defense of a "public option," which would give the uninsured a government-backed alternative to private coverage. But he insisted that the public option had come to play too large a role in the health-care debate, suggesting he would accept alternatives such as a "trigger," which would bring the option into being only if private insurance companies failed to provide sufficiently affordable policies.

<SNIP>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/09/AR2009090902218_pf.html

[treestar]

1. "central test" what drama queens

I swear this entire country is seized with it.

[jefferson_dem]

2. Dunno. I don't recall any more important test, in terms of policy (health care) and event (speech)

n/t

[lunatica]

4. You don't think an extremely rare address to the Joint Houses of Congress

is sending any messages that what he's talking about is important? This has only been done something like 15 times by Presidents in the last 50 years. There have been 50 State of the Union Addresses in the same time frame (obviously).

And he talked about only one thing. Health care reform. Period. I'd say it's pretty central.

[joeycola]

3. Obama talked down the public option!!

[lunatica]

5. What speech did you see?

He did no such thing.

[joeycola]

6. Hopefully the same one you did. Obama tossed it out like a bone

to the Progressives at the end. It was like an afterthought.

[jefferson_dem]

7. Tell that to Rep. Dingell.

:) http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8643209

[joeycola]

8. I have my own opinion and Dingle has his.

[lunatica]

9. Nothing in that speech was an afterthought

He stated his moderate stand. Progressives who have been around for a while get it. We may not like it, but we understand incremental change because that's what we've had to live with. We're used to the resistance to change no matter how much better it would be. If you spotted an Progressives who were unhappy last night point them out. Rachel Maddow had Barbara Boxer on after the speech and she was very happy.

She's a Progressive.

[joeycola]

11. The WH and Congress (Dems) blew their chance at real reform

a few months ago. And it has been downhill ever since.

[lunatica]

12. How did they do that?

How were they supposed to overcome the lack of votes?

[joeycola]

14. They had the votes but did not believe they did. They believed

in the their own mantra. What a bunch of weaklings.

[jefferson_dem]

13. Wow. You sure are spending alot of time bashing Democrats.

How exactly did they "blow their chance at real reform"?

[babylonsister]

10. You sure are ready to trash every positive thread. I didn't hear that, at all.

Did you even bother to listen to the entire speech? He did fire back on multiple fronts despite your desperate spin.

[joeycola]

15. Many of the folks writing these type headlines are finally admitting

the the WH was slow in hitting back.