This entire healthcare reform fiasco would be quite comical if the consequences were not so potentially deadly for Americans and our economy.
You have a President continually spouting blatant lies that are repeatedly shown to be lies by real journalists who take the time to to check his facts. Unfortunately, that's a very small percentage within the mainstream media...true journalism is all but dead outside of Fox and conservative talk radio today.
Following Presidential logic in 2009 can be a real challenge: A major concern is that the currently proposed "public healthcare option" will force private healthcare insurance providers out of business (which we know is his ultimate goal, by his own admission.) To calm these fears in his recent town hall meeting he pointed out that private companies like UPS and FedEx compete quite well against the U.S. Post Office, that it's the post office that's continually in trouble.
Thanks for reassuring us, Mr. President, that government run programs are so notably efficient that they're continually in trouble! Sorta like Medicare that was projected to cost $12B by 1990, but ultimately cost $107B instead? That's my kind of federal program. Using the "We're the post office of healthcare" slogan falls a bit short on the "compelling argument" scale.
Another highlight was when he worked in a dig at the the Bush administration for not providing the funding for Medicare Part D. While Obama wasn't in the senate at the time, all of his heroes in the senate fell all over themselves to support this particular lapse in fiscal judgment by George Bush. Had Obama been there, I have no doubt he would have voted along with the tax-and-spend crowd to approve it.
It was also worth a hoot listening to him try to assure us that the crowd at that meeting was randomly selected and represented a cross-section of views. He then proceeds to field a question (between "Yes We Can!" chants.....but definitely NOT a partisan crowd, right?) from a 13 year-old who happens to be the daughter of one of his Massachussets campaign leaders!
Sheesh.
Mr. President, put the theatrics aside and listen to the American people. While most American agree we need healthcare reform, the vast majority of us DO NOT believe more government involvement is the answer. If anything, we need LESS government!
More importantly, we need TORT REFORM as the first, major step towards true healthcare reform. To propose any legislation that does not address tort reform immediately and automatically should disqualify it as an insincere attempt to address the healthcare issues we face in this country.