Open thread: President Obama’s health care reform speech
President Obama is running late!
This must be making the suits at Fox TV feel happy right now – instead of waiting for the president’s Cabinet to sashay its way down the aisle, they’re showing ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ and earning ad dollars.
Perhaps you’ve already seen some of the excerpts of the speech that will be delivered this evening. What do you think of President Obama’s speech, and ceremony surrounding it? Tell us here in this open thread and we’ll call out your comments.
And be sure to come back later when True/Slant’s writers share their thoughts about the President’s speech.
Post Your Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment
T/S Members
Log in with your True/Slant account.
Previously logged in with Facebook?
Log in to True/Slant with Facebook
First, the ceremony. I hate watching Presidential speeches to Congress for one main reason – the ovations! They waste time, they’re disruptive, and they are often poorly timed. I would love for a President to begin a speech by saying, “Please hold your applause until the end.” :)
The speech? What can I say? The man knows how to rock the mic! And, he actually called lies, “lies”! WOW!
I guess we all have to see what comes next. It seems to me that he made the public option so small that it can’t possibly provide any real competition to the insurance companies. I’ll have to read the speech again to see what I really think.
Well now we finally know what we are fighting for and let’s get in on.
“Now, I have no interest in putting insurance companies out of business. They provide a legitimate service,…”
I hear Anthony Weiner repeating the questions I’ve seen him ask often over the last few weeks: “What does an insurance company do? They don’t do a single exam, they don’t perform an operation.” “What do the insurance companies bring to the table? What so they do for their 30%?”
Re: “legitimate service”. Yeah, that statement was a total slap in the face of all the American’s who have gone bankrupt as a result if illness or died as a result of being denied coverage.
In response to another comment. See in context »“But an additional step we can take to keep insurance companies honest is by making a not-for-profit public option available in the insurance exchange. Let me be clear – it would only be an option for those who don’t have insurance. No one would be forced to choose it, and it would not impact those of you who already have insurance. In fact, based on Congressional Budget Office estimates, we believe that less than 5% of Americans would sign up.”
What is a public option worth if the vast majority of the public can’t opt for it?
I was glad he called out the GOP and said what everyone knows, they are lying. He challenged them to get in the game or sit on the sidelines while the legislation is passed. I know it will not be all Progressives really want, but at least we have an opportunity to make some real changes to the insurers. Do you think we would even be having this discussion if McCain had won?
” Do you think we would even be having this discussion if McCain had won?”
No, I don’t. Does anyone think Obama would have said “public option” at all if progressives hadn’t been pressuring him these last few weeks? Now we should pressure the progressives in Congress to strengthen and broaden the public option.
COOL! Can I get my Called-Out ratio up if I just keep posting here?!?
just kidding – you can delete that, Mr. Roston.
:)
That speech shows: we have a president who has an intellectual grasp of and is able to articulate the problems we face. That in itself is a huge source of pride for me! But at the same time, it seems the perfect insidious catch 22. He’s trying to please everyone (with which intellectually i agree – we need to be able to compromise!) but i fear in the end, he will only end up truly helping the insurance company execs. :-(
4 years until the public option takes effect? Isn’t that like, forever?