Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. The title has two meanings, just you wait.
FINANCIAL REGULATION: The Senate today took another vote to begin debate on the financial regulation package, and again, Republicans successfully filibustered. Every Republican voted against starting debate on the bill, as did Democrat Ben Nelson, who we found out is simply holding out to win a loophole for his constituent, one Warren Buffet. I guess he didn't learn anything from that whole Cornhusker Kickback thing.
I'm not sure the Republicans will be able to sustain this obstruction. Senator Voinovich (R-OH) said this evening that he's willing to wait a few more days for a bipartisan deal, but that he won't vote to filibuster debate indefinitely. I suspect that a few other Republicans feel the same way. It appears that talks between the leaders of the Banking Committee, Senators Dodd (D-CT) and Shelby (R-AL) have just about collapsed. So the name of the game right now is continuing the public pressure on Republicans, expose their obstruction, and intimidate a couple of them into at least letting the debate begin.
One thing I'll mention is that this effort would be a lot easier if there were vulnerable Republican Senators out there. With the possible exception of Senator Burr (R-NC), no incumbent Republican is realistically going to lose this year. That makes it more difficult to exploit this obstruction in the near term.
While the debate on the floor was at a standstill, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) held hearings examining Goldman Sachs executives. He called them out for misleading investors by selling them assets that they knew were worthless. Emails surfaced in which the assets were called a "s#itty deal" by GS analysts. Levin repeated this line several times on live TV. It was a good chance for a tongue lashing of the financial industry. I highly recommend watching.
THE WHITE HOUSE: President Obama is finally taking his reform pitch on the road. Today, he held a Town Hall event in Iowa. Obama told the audience that the American people "deserve an honest debate." I hope he continues this drumbeat when he makes similar appearances later in the week. At the event, he also gave a general defense of his performance in office, including the state of the economy and healthcare.
THE HOUSE: The House spent the day on suspension bills. Only one of them was remotely interesting. By a vote of 402-15, Congress voted to reject its own pay raise during the next fiscal year. I may be alone on this one, but I happen to think Congress deserves to get paid more. At least they are theoretically adding value to society by doing the people's business. I can tell you for sure that they offer far more societal value than Wall Street traders.
Every no vote came from the Democrats, with 13 of the no votes coming from the Congressional Black Caucus.
That's it for today. We'll be back tomorrow to see if Republicans have caved yet on beginning the financial reform debate.
Showing posts with label Town Halls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Town Halls. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Friday, August 14, 2009
The Daily Strike-8/14/09-Anger and Hope (With Some Radical Ideas from The Big Picture)
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. Enjoy one of the most bipolar entries we'll ever write.
HEALTH CARE: I went back and forth today from being very angry, to more hopeful about the prospect of health reform. I wake up this morning to see that Americans will not get compensated for end-of-life counseling because of what Sarah Palin wrote on her Facebook profile. Because she pedaled a lie about death panels, millions of Americans will now be forced to pay out of pocket to talk to their doctor about the painful decisions we all have to face when we are at the twilight years of our life. The official word came from Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who is an intellectually dishonest jerk. Despite the fact that Grassley previously supported end-of-life counseling, he exploited the issue the other day by suggesting that seniors should be scared that the government will "pull the plug on grandma." The Big Picture commented on both the absurdity of Grassley's statement, and how insane it is that we're making public policy worse because of what a pea-brained Sarah Palin wrote on Facebook:
The loss of that provision gave us the sinking feeling that Democrats were just not playing tough enough. We're fighting against so much power: the industry that wants to protect the status quo, a nihilistic Republican Party, and a lot of people who are angry and disillusioned with government to the point that they might do something violent. The Big Picture had some, umm, interesting ideas on how to confront these people in a series of questionable emails this morning:
The thing is, though, that this is politics. It's blood-sport. It's to-the-death. Krugman with a great column on it, concluding by saying, "How will Obama respond?" You can't lose your cool, and yet you've got to play HARDBALL, play to WIN. One thing that makes me confident is Obama's tremendous persistence and perseverance. He's not going to give in. He's going to keep pushing and pushing and pushing and hopefully they'll crack. But you've got to play HARDBALL...
...If they're really SERIOUS about winning, you need to start - and not Obama but others - to viciously undermine the other side, as we did with Clinton, with McCain, with Palin, even with Bush. A fair amount of the attacks on them were unfair and below-the-belt and exaggerated. I mean, was it entirely fair to pound home McCain's "fundamentals of the economy are strong" statement, and to implicitly blame McCain for the economic crisis? Was it fair to cast all that blame on Bush for Katrina? Probably not. But we did it, and that's how we won. Time to really GO AFTER them, drum up wild charges, blackmail them, rough 'em up. The White House is a pretty powerful office. The U.S. Congress is pretty powerful. There's a lot of things we could do ... start some FBI investigations...do a little IRS auditing...haul people before congressional committees...use the FCC to do some things...plant some evidence on these right-wing leaders, some sting operations, arrest them for drugs and prostitution...PLAY TO WIN!...
...I'm concerned that we aren't actually playing to win, that they don't know what it really takes to get this kind of thing done, that they're too bound up in protocol and too worried about being criticized for their tactics. The only person in this whole thing who would suffer from a criticism of tactics is Obama. So as long as he's not the one doing the vicious attacks, calling people before committees, investigating them - then it doesn't matter if Waxman or Holder get some blowback. But I wonder if these people are ready to risk their reputations, risk their cozy positions and nice relationships, to really tear down the media and the opposition, which is what has to happen. I'll be disappointed if we haven't imprisoned and blacklisted the conservative movement during this fall...
But anger gave way to some hope in the afternoon. President Obama gave a very strong town hall meeting performance in Bozeman, Montana. There were no crowd outbursts (like we've seen at town hall meetings across the country), and the President was in full command, making convincing cases for the public option, delivery system reform and insurance market reforms. He faced some tough questions from an NRA member who asked about tax increases (a reasonable question) and someone who works in the insurance industry, but for the most part, the crowd was friendly, supportive and well-informed. The President's new found focus on changing the evil practices of the insurance industry is a lot better than his previous focus on "bending the cost curve." People see the insurance industry abuses all the time in their everyday lives, and it is a solution that taps into the populist anger we're seeing across the country. He complimented his commanding performance by giving constant shout outs to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), saying that he is "committed to getting this bill done." It is a two pronged strategy to regain control of the debate on health care and keep pressure on key lawmakers. Not exactly The Big Picture's Play to Win strategy, but I think it can help turn the tide in the fight to enact health reform.
I was even more inspired this afternoon when I was watching a clip from a town hall meeting with Arkansas Rep. Mike Ross, a key centrist Democrat and member of the Blue Dog Coalition. Ross was mostly getting questions from angry, impassioned right-wingers about government takeovers and this and that. Then a tall, lanky man with a deep Southern accent came to the microphone. He noted that while Ross' district has high unemployment, a high rate of people who are uninsured, and massive poverty, the Congressman bragged about holding the health care reform bill hostage. At the same time, he said, Ross took millions of dollars in contributions from the health care industry. The man quoted Martin Luther King Jr., who said that "justice deferred is justice denied" and that Ross shouldn't sell out the needs of his constituents. It was incredibly uplifting to see someone in such a conservative district standing up for our side. It gives me hope that there are enough people out there who understand how important it is to get this done. I'll try to post the video if it shows up on YouTube.
Ugh. As I was about to post this entry, I read that Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) won't support the public option, and he gave no good reason for it. Yes, it was a day of anger and hope.
HEALTH CARE: I went back and forth today from being very angry, to more hopeful about the prospect of health reform. I wake up this morning to see that Americans will not get compensated for end-of-life counseling because of what Sarah Palin wrote on her Facebook profile. Because she pedaled a lie about death panels, millions of Americans will now be forced to pay out of pocket to talk to their doctor about the painful decisions we all have to face when we are at the twilight years of our life. The official word came from Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who is an intellectually dishonest jerk. Despite the fact that Grassley previously supported end-of-life counseling, he exploited the issue the other day by suggesting that seniors should be scared that the government will "pull the plug on grandma." The Big Picture commented on both the absurdity of Grassley's statement, and how insane it is that we're making public policy worse because of what a pea-brained Sarah Palin wrote on Facebook:
I despise Grassley so much. At this point he more than any other single person is responsible for problems with health care reform
The end-of-life stuff, God it makes me so angry and depressed and just generally disillusioned. Read the New York Times article on it. It's so distressing. How will anything EVER get done if these big lies just dominate the debate. It is so insane to me that that DISGUSTING Sarah Palin Facebook post will now lead to there not being coverage of end-of-life counseling. Think about that. Think about what that means for getting anything done, ever. As despicable a figure as Sarah Palin, as big an idiot as Sarah Palin, who is regarded by the majority of Americans as an idiot, she makes a charge so outlandish that just repeating it is like comedy... and then she wins!
The end-of-life stuff, God it makes me so angry and depressed and just generally disillusioned. Read the New York Times article on it. It's so distressing. How will anything EVER get done if these big lies just dominate the debate. It is so insane to me that that DISGUSTING Sarah Palin Facebook post will now lead to there not being coverage of end-of-life counseling. Think about that. Think about what that means for getting anything done, ever. As despicable a figure as Sarah Palin, as big an idiot as Sarah Palin, who is regarded by the majority of Americans as an idiot, she makes a charge so outlandish that just repeating it is like comedy... and then she wins!
The loss of that provision gave us the sinking feeling that Democrats were just not playing tough enough. We're fighting against so much power: the industry that wants to protect the status quo, a nihilistic Republican Party, and a lot of people who are angry and disillusioned with government to the point that they might do something violent. The Big Picture had some, umm, interesting ideas on how to confront these people in a series of questionable emails this morning:
The thing is, though, that this is politics. It's blood-sport. It's to-the-death. Krugman with a great column on it, concluding by saying, "How will Obama respond?" You can't lose your cool, and yet you've got to play HARDBALL, play to WIN. One thing that makes me confident is Obama's tremendous persistence and perseverance. He's not going to give in. He's going to keep pushing and pushing and pushing and hopefully they'll crack. But you've got to play HARDBALL...
...If they're really SERIOUS about winning, you need to start - and not Obama but others - to viciously undermine the other side, as we did with Clinton, with McCain, with Palin, even with Bush. A fair amount of the attacks on them were unfair and below-the-belt and exaggerated. I mean, was it entirely fair to pound home McCain's "fundamentals of the economy are strong" statement, and to implicitly blame McCain for the economic crisis? Was it fair to cast all that blame on Bush for Katrina? Probably not. But we did it, and that's how we won. Time to really GO AFTER them, drum up wild charges, blackmail them, rough 'em up. The White House is a pretty powerful office. The U.S. Congress is pretty powerful. There's a lot of things we could do ... start some FBI investigations...do a little IRS auditing...haul people before congressional committees...use the FCC to do some things...plant some evidence on these right-wing leaders, some sting operations, arrest them for drugs and prostitution...PLAY TO WIN!...
...The key is to mix this low-road politics with an uplifting Obama message packed with emotional appeal, how this is going to improve people's lives, restore hope, deliver change, how this time it's different, America a nation of Yes We Can...
...Right now he's caught in this middle road where there's neither the stirring emotional appeal to rally the base and sway the impressionable middle, nor is there the low-road, pure power approach to truly undercut the opposition...
...I'm concerned that we aren't actually playing to win, that they don't know what it really takes to get this kind of thing done, that they're too bound up in protocol and too worried about being criticized for their tactics. The only person in this whole thing who would suffer from a criticism of tactics is Obama. So as long as he's not the one doing the vicious attacks, calling people before committees, investigating them - then it doesn't matter if Waxman or Holder get some blowback. But I wonder if these people are ready to risk their reputations, risk their cozy positions and nice relationships, to really tear down the media and the opposition, which is what has to happen. I'll be disappointed if we haven't imprisoned and blacklisted the conservative movement during this fall...
...Let's make it as simple as possible - just tie them up by hauling them before Congress, subpoenaing them, throwing them in prison. You start investigating taxes, throwing them in prison for tax evasion. You plant some drugs. You plant them with prostitutes - I think some nefarious gay sex scandals against Limbaugh and Beck and Charles Grassley and Mitch McConnell could really work some wonders. Start peddling some nasty rumors about Betsy McCaughey. There's also a lot of threats you can start to make to people, to their families...I mean, Obama is the commander in chief, he's in charge of the army, the FBI, the IRS, the CIA. This isn't only to win the health care debate, it's also to dissuade these dark forces from opposing him on the next series of issues. Because otherwise they are clearly going to derail his entire agenda and drive this country into the ditch...
Perhaps The Big Picture might be facing Secretary Napolitano or a Congressional subpoena himself after this entry. The Strike does not endorse these Machiavellian and Nixonian views, but he does share the frustration.But anger gave way to some hope in the afternoon. President Obama gave a very strong town hall meeting performance in Bozeman, Montana. There were no crowd outbursts (like we've seen at town hall meetings across the country), and the President was in full command, making convincing cases for the public option, delivery system reform and insurance market reforms. He faced some tough questions from an NRA member who asked about tax increases (a reasonable question) and someone who works in the insurance industry, but for the most part, the crowd was friendly, supportive and well-informed. The President's new found focus on changing the evil practices of the insurance industry is a lot better than his previous focus on "bending the cost curve." People see the insurance industry abuses all the time in their everyday lives, and it is a solution that taps into the populist anger we're seeing across the country. He complimented his commanding performance by giving constant shout outs to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), saying that he is "committed to getting this bill done." It is a two pronged strategy to regain control of the debate on health care and keep pressure on key lawmakers. Not exactly The Big Picture's Play to Win strategy, but I think it can help turn the tide in the fight to enact health reform.
I was even more inspired this afternoon when I was watching a clip from a town hall meeting with Arkansas Rep. Mike Ross, a key centrist Democrat and member of the Blue Dog Coalition. Ross was mostly getting questions from angry, impassioned right-wingers about government takeovers and this and that. Then a tall, lanky man with a deep Southern accent came to the microphone. He noted that while Ross' district has high unemployment, a high rate of people who are uninsured, and massive poverty, the Congressman bragged about holding the health care reform bill hostage. At the same time, he said, Ross took millions of dollars in contributions from the health care industry. The man quoted Martin Luther King Jr., who said that "justice deferred is justice denied" and that Ross shouldn't sell out the needs of his constituents. It was incredibly uplifting to see someone in such a conservative district standing up for our side. It gives me hope that there are enough people out there who understand how important it is to get this done. I'll try to post the video if it shows up on YouTube.
Ugh. As I was about to post this entry, I read that Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) won't support the public option, and he gave no good reason for it. Yes, it was a day of anger and hope.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
The Daily Strike-8/12/09-On Town Hall Protesters
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. While Congress is out of recess this month, some of my entries will be less geared to what happened during the day in politics, but rather will focus on something I've just been itching to write about. Today will be one of those entries.
TOWN HALLS: I have been struggling to make sense of the crazy people who have been shouting down members of Congress at town hall meetings, ostensibly in protest of the health reform proposals. I think a lot of liberals are using the cop out explanation, that these protesters are "astroturfers" being propped up by industry and right-wing research groups. In other words, they don't really care about health insurance reform, they're just being paid by fat cats to make it seem like there is widespread opposition to reform. There is a minor grain of truth in that explanation. A lot of right-wing groups, and their industry allies are spending a lot of money to organize opposition rallies. But when I see the amount of pain and anger on these people's faces as they scream at members of Congress, when I see them bring home-made signs railing against Obama and calling him a socialist, when I see people invoking Nazi Germany and bringing guns to town-hall meetings, I can no longer dismiss these outbursts as simply manufactured anger.
In fact, I think that would be letting some of these crazy people off too easy. Have you seen some of the footage from these events? There was the woman at an Arkansas event who wept about how she "wants her country back." There was the old man in Pennsylvania who got in Senator Arlen Specter's face and told him that he will one day be judged by God. One Congressman was famously hung in effigy, while another was followed to his car by an angry mob of people shouting "just say no."
We can easily categorize the demographics of these people. For one, they are almost entirely white. They tend to be older; in fact a lot of them are senior citizens currently benefiting from government-run Medicare. They mostly show up at town halls in suburban, exurban or rural areas. And they won't come without paraphernalia to prove how "pro-America" and "pro-freedom" they are, even as some of them talk about overthrowing their duly elected government.
What we cannot easily categorize are what in the world is making these people so bitter and angry to the point where they get up and scream at a town hall meeting. The most striking part to me about all of this is that when these people get up and ask questions, or if they are interviewed by outside media, they never mention anything that's actually in any of the health care bills. None of them really even mention the fake things that are in the health care bills, like Sarah Palin's famed death panels. Instead, they speak in broader terms about what they think is happening. The words I hear most frequently: Socialism, rationing, government control, taking away our freedom, wanting our country and our constitution back etc. These words can't be rationally related to H.R 3200 or any other health care bill, because at their core, the bills are moderate attempts to perfect the system we currently have, and to add new options for people who are uninsured. So what is the cause of this underlying anger? And why are they getting so much attention for it? It comes down to several key points.
1. The most important point, which the Big Picture so rightly reminded me of when we were discussing this piece, is the general lack of security people feel in their own lives. Many of these people have lost their jobs, or lost their health care. Some of them have lost their life savings. They are not being protected by any sort of strong social safety net, and thus worry about making ends meet. A lot of people don't quite know where to channel this insecurity. It's not even just purely their own security, but the sense that their community is declining, that their children will be worse off, that they're barely hanging on now but further change will take away the security they currently are clinging to. That's where scapegoating comes in. Even though there is nothing in any health reform bill about covering illegal immigrants, protesters insist that there is. They blame our government, which they feel hurts them to help people who don't deserve to be helped,. They worked so hard for so many years and played by the rules! How is it that companies are getting all these bailouts and freeloaders are taking all our health care money? Isn't this the same government that gave jobs to undeserving minorities instead of me? For a lot of these people, they associate government "change" with policies that have made their lives worse, and that have decreased their status in society. How can they possible accept more of that change?
2. Those fears are nothing new. They helped propel Ronald Reagan to the Presidency in 1980. What is new is that whites are actually losing power.We can't deny that some of that insecurity comes from racial and cultural tension. It's not just that there is a black President, and a Hispanic Supreme Court Justice. Minorities, especially Latinos, are growing in size and influence, and have helped propel Democrats to victory across the country. I think there is a sense among these protesters that the country they grew up in, the comfortable life they had before blacks took advantage of the Fair Housing Act and moved into their neighborhoods, before they had to be so politically correct, was actually the "Real America." That's how I would interpret the "I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK" talk.
3. The 24 hour news cycle and the Internet are turning people into drones who will believe anything. With so many choices out there, a lot of people choose what and who they want to listen to. If you believed everything Glenn Beck said on Fox News or Sarah Palin said on her Facebook page, then you would probably think our government is headed towards the use of eugenics. Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and other conservative commentators have huge ratings right now. They rant about all the people who are ruining America, and it makes the listeners feel better, because they have outlets to channel their anger. These commentators also do such a great job discrediting the mainstream media. People will believe pure BS from Beck and O'Reilly, and even when the information is fact-checked by non-partisan organizations, that fact-checking is easily dismissed because Beck and O'Reilly already convinced us they have a liberal bias!
4. The Republican party and its leaders in Congress know that they will reap political benefits if this bill fails. They have absolutely no reason to want this thing to succeed, because if it does, their electoral prospects will be even dimmer than they are right now. Therefore, they are happy to enable angry and anxious voters by supporting them financially, encouraging them to show up at meetings, and feeding them false, outlandish information.
5. Finally, these protests are cat nip to the mainstream media. Not only are they rowdy scenes which make good clips on cable TV, but they enhance the tempting storyline that Obama's popularity is fading, and that he is on a course of failure. The media gives the protesters the benefit of the doubt, because they are not the sort of scary, anti-war, black radical protests of yesteryear. Look at them! They're white and middle-class! They're pro-freedom! They're carrying American flags and singing "God Bless America!" They're freedom loving patriots protecting the people from the government!
The last three points I make here (related to the media) are not worth analyzing too much or complaining about. They are realities about the political climate we live in, and we have to do our best to counter them.
The first two points should give us cause for great concern. These are the people that would be helped most by health insurance reform and other Democratic proposals, but because of deep-seeded anger and prejudice, they are becoming the face of the opposition. Many of us, including me, have a tendency to look down on these people and dismiss them as hopeless racist wingnuts. No doubt, some of them are. A lot of these people have warped world views and are ideologically opposed to helping other people. But for the rest of them, the people that are genuinely concerned, and genuinely insecure, we need to empathize with them. We need to show them that we understand their pain, and sympathize with their insecurities. Most of all, as The Big Picture wisely notes, we need to enact policies that make their lives more secure and give them better opportunities to live out the American dream. The message to members of Congress who are hearing these protests and are becoming nervous about voting for health reform should remember that the best way to change people's minds is not to demean them or take them on point-by-point at a town hall meeting. It is to make their lives better. Vote for a bill that does that. It will help you politically in the short-run, and it will make our country a better place in the long-run.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
The Daily Strike-8/11/09-Portsmouth
Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. I will keep tonight's entry short, because I want you all to read The Big Picture's monthly review of the President's progress on health reform (or as the White House has instructed me to refer to it at our death panel meeting, health insurance reform). I got a sneak peak at the entry, and it's really well-written and insightful.
PORTSMOUTH: The President traveled today to Portsmouth, NH to hold a town hall meeting on health insurance reform. A lot of us were expecting fireworks. The President's team, unlike Bush's, doesn't screen attendees, so any far right-winger could have come in and asked about birth certificates and the march toward socialism. I was especially nervous after seeing footage of Democratic Senators Arlen Specter (PA) and Claire McCaskill (MO) get bombarded by angry mobs this morning. There were no outbursts today in Portsmouth, in fact, there was something that resembled a well-reasoned political discussion. In my view, the President really hit his stride today. He was able to push back against the "outlandish" criticisms being thrown at the bill by his political opponents, and he articulated well, perhaps for the first time, what this bill will do for those of us who already have health insurance. The President made a mistake by not addressing that when he first starting selling the bill. Some of the bill's best provisions are new regulations on insurance companies that forbid them from denying coverage based on preexisting conditions, and set lifetime and annual caps on out of pocket expenses. He turned these provisions into a good populist message about how hard working Americans are held hostage by the extreme practices of the insurance companies.
The questions, for the most part, were measured and thoughtful. Obama publicly sought out "skeptics" of his plan, saying he wanted to hear from all sides (the White House was careful to make it seem like the event was not staged). When a woman raised her hand and identified herself as a skeptic, I was bracing for some crazy talk about socialized medicine or euthanasia. Instead, she asked how we're supposed to cover more people when we have a shortage of doctors and nurses. What a great question. A little kid asked how they can separate truth from facts when they're hearing so much on the news. I was hoping he would send youngsters to factcheck.org or something, but he used the question as an opportunity to fight back against some falsehoods.
He did go on one rhetorical flourish that bothered me a bit. Someone asked if the public option would drive out private insurers from the market, because, as the questioner said, "you can't compete with the government." Obama explained that the public option will have to play by similar rules as private companies, and would have to be self-sustaining. He then insisted that in other industries, private companies routinely compete successfully with the federal government. His example was that FedEX and UPS are private companies that are run well, and it's only the public "Post Office that has all these problems." Not good. You need to have absolute message discipline when it comes to getting people to trust the government. Underlying skepticism about government is a key reason whey some people are hesitant about the bill. I know it's a small thing, but you can't try to get people to trust the government while simultaneously mock one of its programs. Also, what is wrong with the Post Office? As Bill Maher pointed out, I pay 44 cents to send a letter across the country in two days, and it always gets there without fail.
The one thing that was missing, and The Big Picture addresses this well today, is that emotional touch. Obama is just not that good at connecting with people in a personal way, so that they really understand that they feel their pain and that they can trust him to help them. I hope Obama can find a way to make those connections, especially with the people who have been so badly hurt by our current system.
That's it for tonight. Tomorrow, barring any major news story, I will be writing an entry about the town hall protesters, who they are, and what they mean. See you then!
PORTSMOUTH: The President traveled today to Portsmouth, NH to hold a town hall meeting on health insurance reform. A lot of us were expecting fireworks. The President's team, unlike Bush's, doesn't screen attendees, so any far right-winger could have come in and asked about birth certificates and the march toward socialism. I was especially nervous after seeing footage of Democratic Senators Arlen Specter (PA) and Claire McCaskill (MO) get bombarded by angry mobs this morning. There were no outbursts today in Portsmouth, in fact, there was something that resembled a well-reasoned political discussion. In my view, the President really hit his stride today. He was able to push back against the "outlandish" criticisms being thrown at the bill by his political opponents, and he articulated well, perhaps for the first time, what this bill will do for those of us who already have health insurance. The President made a mistake by not addressing that when he first starting selling the bill. Some of the bill's best provisions are new regulations on insurance companies that forbid them from denying coverage based on preexisting conditions, and set lifetime and annual caps on out of pocket expenses. He turned these provisions into a good populist message about how hard working Americans are held hostage by the extreme practices of the insurance companies.
The questions, for the most part, were measured and thoughtful. Obama publicly sought out "skeptics" of his plan, saying he wanted to hear from all sides (the White House was careful to make it seem like the event was not staged). When a woman raised her hand and identified herself as a skeptic, I was bracing for some crazy talk about socialized medicine or euthanasia. Instead, she asked how we're supposed to cover more people when we have a shortage of doctors and nurses. What a great question. A little kid asked how they can separate truth from facts when they're hearing so much on the news. I was hoping he would send youngsters to factcheck.org or something, but he used the question as an opportunity to fight back against some falsehoods.
He did go on one rhetorical flourish that bothered me a bit. Someone asked if the public option would drive out private insurers from the market, because, as the questioner said, "you can't compete with the government." Obama explained that the public option will have to play by similar rules as private companies, and would have to be self-sustaining. He then insisted that in other industries, private companies routinely compete successfully with the federal government. His example was that FedEX and UPS are private companies that are run well, and it's only the public "Post Office that has all these problems." Not good. You need to have absolute message discipline when it comes to getting people to trust the government. Underlying skepticism about government is a key reason whey some people are hesitant about the bill. I know it's a small thing, but you can't try to get people to trust the government while simultaneously mock one of its programs. Also, what is wrong with the Post Office? As Bill Maher pointed out, I pay 44 cents to send a letter across the country in two days, and it always gets there without fail.
The one thing that was missing, and The Big Picture addresses this well today, is that emotional touch. Obama is just not that good at connecting with people in a personal way, so that they really understand that they feel their pain and that they can trust him to help them. I hope Obama can find a way to make those connections, especially with the people who have been so badly hurt by our current system.
That's it for tonight. Tomorrow, barring any major news story, I will be writing an entry about the town hall protesters, who they are, and what they mean. See you then!
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