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If we have been paying attention for the last few months, we can predict what the President will say and do Wednesday night. But, it doesn't matter because the Republicans still will not trust him.
However, the President will make a strong pitch for bi-partisanship and compromise. He will attempt to lay out the problem with health-care in simple language. He will tell everyone that we cannot continue on the road we are going. We have no choice but to reform the system. He will say that he believes the best way to bring down the skyrocketing prices of health coverage is to have a public option, which will create the competition needed to control the rising prices of the insurance companies. In a step to compromise with the Republicans, he will say that we should be able to work out a compromise on tort reform. He will demonstrate that he is not only willing to piss off the left wing of his Party, but he is also willing to piss off the lawyers.
He will offer many examples of why reform is needed. He will tell of people who have lost their jobs and no longer have any insurance. He will tell the Congress about folks being diagnosed with threatening diseases and dropped from coverage. He will tell them of folks with pre-existing conditions denied coverage. He will have examples of people losing their homes and savings because of a catastrophic illness in the family.
He will give numbers, plenty of numbers, showing that we spend more than any industrialized country in the world on health care. He will show the different ways that we can save money, including computerized medical records, etc.
In the end, he will go more than half-way with the Republicans. He will demand that Congress come up with a bill that he can sign and that will give help to those Americans that need it. He will put the ball in the Republicans court.
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