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Obama Speaks Loudly But Carries a Small Stick
President Obama spoke loudly but carried a small stick Wednesday night, when he outlined what's left of his health-care reform agenda in a rare address to a joint session of the Congress.
U.S. President Barack Obama delivers a speech on healthcare before a joint session of Congress in Washington, September 9, 2009. (REUTERS/Jason Reed)
Noting that "it has now been nearly a century since Theodore Roosevelt
first called for health care reform," the president told skeptical
legislators from both sides of the political aisle. "I am not the first
president to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last."
That was one of several takeaway lines of the night.
The other, delivered to members of the House and Senate who have just returned to Washington after an August of brutal town-hall meetings, was: "The time for bickering has passed. The time for games has passed. Now is the season for action. Now is the time when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together... Now is the time to deliver on health care."
The president was equally muscular when it came to addressing "scary stories" and "bogus claims" about "death panels" and threats to Medicare that have been spun up by insurance-industry front groups in order to thwart meaningful reform. Democrats loved it when Obama told the spin doctors -- in the House and Senate Republican caucuses and their media echo chambers -- that: "If you misrepresent what's in the plan, we will call you out."
But this was not a too-the-barricades address by a president who was prepared to battle not just the lies about his plan but the compromises that would make universal health care the dream deferred.
When it came to the task of offering the explanations, arguments and details that have been so hard to come by during a frustratingly unfocused debate about how to develop a functional health-care system for a country where tens of millions of Americans have no insurance coverage and tens of millions more are under-insured, Obama remained unsettlingly vague.
He restated his determination to prevent insurance companies from denying coverage to Americans with preexisting conditions. He proposed portability and flexibility. He pledged to bar insurance-company caps on the amount of care that is provided the sick. And he decried insurance company abuses that even Republicans seemed to agree -- at least if applause is any measure -- are "heartbreaking" and "wrong."
These consumer-protection initiatives could well form the foundation for the legislation that Obama says he is determined to sign this year, since it certainly did not sound Wednesday night like the president was going to fight for the sort of broad reforms that really would guarantee health-care for all and control costs.
"It makes more sense to build on what works... rather than to build an entirely new system from scratch," Obama said, making all-too-clear his determination to retain the private for-profit system that failed so miserably to deliver health care for all but that has succeeded so monumentally in delivering profits to insurance and pharmaceutical corporation stockholders.
Obama still talked about "options" and "choices," but he suggested that they would be provided mainly by insurance companies that would be given "incentives" -- i.e., streams of taxpayer dollars -- to abide by consumer-protection regulations and come up with strategies for covering the uninsured.
The government might step in to help, Obama suggested, but he painted the initiative as temporary rather than permanent. When he spoke of a "public option," as he had to in order to keep progressive Democrats on board, the president still said: "I have no interest in putting insurance companies out of business."
The "public option" was positioned more as a consumer-protection initiative for "those without insurance," a sort of welfare program that would attract only about five percent of Americans and that would be funded by premiums rather than tax dollars.
Robust? Not hardly.
The president's language, so strong at the start, went soft when he talked about talked about the public option. He even suggested that he was open to alternatives favored by Republicans and some moderate Democrats.
The president kept talking about "the plan" he was presenting. But a lack of clarity or line-in-the-sand commitments when it came to genuine reform of a system he described as "full of waste and abuse" created the most amusing moment of the night.
Obama was not going for laughs when he uttered the line "while there remain some significant details to be ironed out..." But he got them.
What the president was headed toward was a suggestion that he was still searching for some kind of middle-ground that will satisfy "those on the left" and "those on the right" -- even if that means supporting medical-malpractice "reforms" that would make it harder for those who are injured by bad doctors, nurses and hospitals to hold the wrongdoers to account.
What Americans who have waited "nearly a century" for reform were left with was a sense that the "great unfinished business of our society" -- as the late Edward Kennedy described the work of pursuit of universal health care in a last letter to Obama -- might remain unfinished.
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158 Comments so far
Show Allwhy is this man wasting most people's time? he has said nothing worthwhile. it's worse than an empty and hollow soliloquy..it's not even passable acting anymore.
I guess that this theater of the absurd is what this man was hired to do. As soon as the words "sticking with what works" came out, my immediate thought was, yeah it works for your corporate pals but not for the people.
So this is more of the same old shit. I hope the progressives give him the finger.
"As soon as the words "sticking with what works" came out, my immediate thought was, yeah it works for your corporate pals but not for the people."
Yep. That's all you need to know to know what's gonna happen.
Obama is the Jive Turkey of Jive Turkeys.
Why doesn't he just say that there are Americans who need our help, just as in a natural disaster, only this is a man-made one?
He is still an asshole.Tony
Vote this phony piece of crumbs down! Let's get on with this one term presidency.
I have a sinking feeling that Wishy-Washy is sending We-The-People down the river into corporate slavery.
More specific:We got the hook up front,got the "hope"in the middle and got the shit with a candy coating at the end.Read the speech because cant stand to listen to him.It is said that we must respect the "office of the prez if not the man.I've lost respect for both.How many presidents can you count that deserved respect?Tony
Ah yes, the character of our nation...
President Obama, if you had the least bit of integrity, instead of mentioning and lifting up hacks like Hatch, Grassley and McCain, you would have mentioned Woolsey and Donna Edwards just for starters. I guess you brought up Ted Kennedy because it's hard for your rebub pals to bad mouth that particular health care advocate.
You flat refuse to talk about health insurance percentage of income limits being placed on corporate premiums. You refuse to mention the point where real, everyday poverty should entitle a person to total health care. And finally, it never occurs to you golden boys and your insurance actuaries that, as safe drivers get cheaper car insurance rates, people who can prove they don't smoke and/or exercise a certain amount a week should get health insurance discounts.
I don't believe you. You say you won't sign a bill if it adds one dime to the deficit and then you turn around and say a bill MUST be passed now. That's illogical and contradictory but it does have a nice rhetorical flourish. That brings us back to trying to use MLK's words about character for Health Corporation profits at our expense. You are ALL rhetoric and no substance.
I wish it weren't so.
Everyone who has commented below me so far is as loony as the nuts on the right. Are you people even living in reality? Barney Frank's question applies to you too - "on what planet do you spend most of your time?"
As Obama says, the goal is to give everyone health insurance. Can you evaluate what was said and what is being proposed with that goal in mind?
Let's get everyone insured. And yes - oh, heaven forbid- it might mean that insurance companies still make a profit. Blasphemy I know.
How much evidence do you need that Obama has a good heart and integrity and is trying to get to that goal in the most politically expedient way possible?
You folks are worse than the right.
Tramaker; If all you want is to get health insurance, then I can see how you would like Obama's plan. If, on the other hand, your goal is to get universal healthcare at a lower cost, then, given his plan, you have to conclude that his speech was mostly hot air.
Don't feed the insurance company troll or at least an Obama apologist who cannot even parse his words to realize that Obama has already given away the farm.
Obama's plan won't even begin to cover the 50 million Americans without health care until 2013, and even then, will do so with more sticks than carrots. And then, forcing people to pay for crappy private insurance, is not progress, but worse than what we have now.
First of all if the right shoots this down I'm with them as this has all the trapings of a con.We,as in all who want single payer which is off the table,but will grit teeth for a "robust" public option which he made a point of not talking about when he said that at most 5% of people would get the public option which in effect makes it dead on arrival.There is nothing here but a mandatory payout for the insurance co's.It is disgustingly shitty and dishonest attempt to finesse this real problem.Tony
"Let's get everyone insured. And yes - oh, heaven forbid- it might mean that insurance companies still make a profit. Blasphemy I know."
Well, la de da. Where to begin? How about this? The issue is health care, right? Am I wrong on that? Can we talk about health care? Doctors, hospitals and pharmacists are the ones that provide health care, right? Am I wrong about that?
Now listen carefully:
My premium for reasonable but not excellent health insurance with BCBS as a retired federal employee (one of the best case scenarios nowadays) is $1,057 a month. The US government is stealing $700 a month from all tax payers so that I "only" have to pay $357 a month. My TOTAL pension is just above $2,800 GROSS a month. Now where in God's good earth can you justify eating such a monstrous bite out of someone's pension in the name of "profit"? There is a difference between "some" profit and gauging. You, apparantly see red if anyone wants to disturb insurance corporation bottom lines. No one here said NO PROFIT. We want reasonable rates. That means no more than 10% of gross. If you think the Insurance corporations can't make a profit on that, you are in bed with them.
I am sick and tired of "adults" like you wanting to explain to the rubes like us how "things are done" in D.C. The calculus of political viability is a sophistic amount of horseshit that we have absolutely HAD IT with!
BOTTOM LINE:
If people like me that DID NOT strike when 16,000 air traffic controllers walked in 1981 and remained loyaly controlling traffic for 20 years have to pay more than 10% of their gross, then someone is stealing from the finest people in the country.
I DARE you to tell us what percent of your gross you pay in health insurance premiums. Don't fuck with air traffic controllers, pal.
AGG;Was looking through huffpost and saw an article about bcbs of north Dakota and no fines just a kiss on the ass.Tony
If you believe what Obama says, you are the "looney" one around here. For profit health care should be a crime. Period.
You say, "How much evidence do you need that Obama has a good heart and integrity and is trying to get to that goal in the most politically expedient way possible?"
Let's think about that statement:
FISA backdown
Torture continues at Guantanimo (well documented on this site)
Torture continues at Bagram
Increased aggression and murder in "Af-Pak"
Continued illegal occupation of Iraq
Failure to prosecute torturers in the US
Throwing allies under the bus because of Glen Beck (Van Jones)
Refusal to fire BlackWater
Support of continued militarization of Columbia
Ad Infinitum...
The list is endless. Please spare us your ridiculous Dem party political lines and accusations. Your embarrassing yourself as well.
Obama has neither "heart" nor "integrity." He's just another corporate killer, just like every president since WW2.
Mispost
The Obamabots and the Obamamanics on HuffPo are out in full force, falling over themselves with praise over Obama's speech. Anyone who disagrees with them is being called a Repug, a traitor, etc. Were they listening to the same speech I was? I felt panic and sickness over this bill. As Wendell Potter recently said "they're going to need a lot of lipstick to cover this pig of a bill." He said this on August 19th, but nothing Obama said tonight is different from what he was saying on that date.
Another thing the bots are love to say is that Obama is not beholden to special interests and didn't take contributions from the special interests. I just read the contributions on OpenSecrets.org.
Here's three: Nursing Homes/Hospitals (more than any other candidate: $3,335,944; Health Services/HMOs: $1,425,501; Insurance: $2,270,065 (almost neck in neck with McCain)
But the best quote of the night: "Insurance companies provide a valuable service."
Obama is a colossal disappointment; even wishing for Hillary.
AGG writes:
"And finally, it never occurs to you golden boys and your insurance actuaries that, as safe drivers get cheaper car insurance rates, people who can prove they don't smoke and/or exercise a certain amount a week should get health insurance discounts."
How do you know what has occurred to "the golden boys"? I repeat my previous comment: No one I've read so far in this comment section seems to have any clue about how Congress works or what is politically palatable at a given time.
Here we have AGG criticizing the President for details in a public plan that doesn't yet exist. Classic straw man nonsense.
For a dose of sanity - which is badly needed at Common Dreams - bookmark www.fivethirtyeight.com
Obama: "Now, for those individuals and small businesses who still can't afford the lower-priced insurance available in the exchange, we'll provide tax credits, the size of which will be based on your need."
So how does this work? If you can't afford health insurance, do you have to wait until the end of the year to file a tax return to apply for a tax credit, which you may or may not get?
Obama's version of socialized "healthcare" - The insurance companies of all stripes, unite.
I don't normally make it a practice to attack people in forums like this but as a left-wing pragmatist, you people drive me nuts. I find the right just comical but you folks are so well-meaning but in the end, equally as obstinate as the nuts on the right.
NEW - here's what's...ahem...new...about what Obama said tonight:
http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-plank/breaking-the-news-the-speech
And NEW - Obama endorsed exactly what Hillary proposed tonight - insurance mandates.
HR 676 has been endorsed by 572 union organizations in 49 states. Endorsers include 134 Central Labor Councils and Area Labor Federations, 39 state AFL-CIO's, and 22 international/national unions. The fake fight over Public Option is a deliberate distraction. Single Payer is the solution.
Nothing else is real. The above is the only thing that really should have taken center stage in the speech and it wasn't even there. You must have a high paying job if you can afford to be pragmatic about the corporate two wing, two faced party. Rhetoric is bullshit.
But how can you possibly pass single payer when it's a struggle even to get the public option included in the bill?? That's why I keep saying people on this forum are not living in political reality! Where are the votes for single payer?
I am an American in Canada by the way so I love single payer but I also agree with Obama that it's unrealistic to think it could happen in America at this stage.
Baby steps folks. Get everyone insured first and hopefully sneak a public option into the bill. Then go from there.
An American in Canada?! Good grief!
You wouldn't, by any strange coincidence, happen to be a "volunteer" on Steven Harper's federal election team, would you? He also believes in "pragmatism" when it comes to bowing to pressures from so-called "U.S. interests" and would be more than happy to wreck completely that "socialized" Canadian health care system you currently enjoy.
Yeah, and insurance mandates will sink this president faster than swift boats. He has already made it clear that rhetorically he might attack insurance company callousness and waste, but will capitulate and even subsidize them so they don't get too rough on him. What a joke.
I wonder what the reaction would have been had Obama really come clean and said mandates, and then talked about the fines. The fines have been around a long time, long before yesterday it hit all the papers because of Baucus. I would love to have seen the reaction to that instead of this lovefest we're seeing this morning on HuffPo and apparently from just about everybody who has been critical of Obama in the mainstream these last few months. Apparently only holdout has been O'Donnell. Yesterday people were agreeing with him wholeheartedly, today he is being vilified. I was praying he would talk about the "big stick" for the guys that can't afford insurance, the fines.
We know your opinion, the bill is still in process and Obama said if you can't afford the insurance like most small businesses you will get a waiver.... Do you want the changes he does outline in the unfinished bill like not denying for previous conditions and canceling you because you are too sick???
Without giving me hundred reasons why you think Obama is a total loser criminal for the Illumnati, would you like to see just those two things among others as a progressive first step?
If you want it all now, I don't think it is available.
Oh c'mon - do you not understand politics at all? He's trying to make the public option palatable to both the sceptics among the public and the people in congress whose votes he needs. He knows full well it will be more than 5%.
Welcome to CommonNightmares, Tramaker.
Many of those who attack you for your opinion... well to put it mildly:
They don't know how to deal with reality, their family's have tried to commit them but at least we are keepin um off the streets.
So, why do you keep coming back?
An itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny eensy-weensy tiny-winy little-bit-of change we can believe in. CAMPAIGN SPENDING LIMITS FOR BETTER POLITICIANS
Good God, you are absolutely right. This is where the problem lies. Time and again, in issue after issue, this is where we have our problems. If something is to be fixed, the corporations are in the room for solutions first, handing out their money so they can get what they want.
It's insane.
This is no way to run a government.
Mo Rage
The blog
He doesn't want to drive the insurance companies out of business.
So he wants the American patient to live with their malignant tumour rather than get it out.
Ceti - Did you miss the part where it will now be illegal to deny someone insurance or kick them off a plan?
That's the way it is--Good observation Henry. Get rid of the fat--SINGLE PAYER! NO MORE HAND-OUTS TO THE ONES WHO ARE THE PROBLEM.
Tramaker, Did you miss the part where everyone will be forced to buy insurance, which means that everyone will be feeding the profits of the predatory insurance companies?
Did you not understand that there are plenty of companies--with WalMart being an excellent example-- that offer junk insurance to their employees, most of whom wisely choose Medicaid, instead. But now those impoverished employees will be forced to pay for the WalMart insurance plans, like it or not?
Did you not understand how many of us are glad to help support Medicare and Medicaid, but are outraged that our tax dollars will be funneled to the corrupt insurance companies?
Did you not understand the part about how when you're sick or lose your job, you can no longer afford the insurance premiums and so you lose your insurance, despite all the previous years of paying into it and getting nothing in return?
Did you miss the part where the quality of the health insurance plan you have will depend on how much you can pay for it?
"And he decried insurance company abuses that even Republicans seemed to agree [...] are 'heartbreaking' and 'wrong.'"
Excepting, of course, that he didn't even whisper about the biggest and most fundamental abuse of all: the insurance industry's huge profit skimming for their intermediary revenue handling processes that are entirely value-negative in terms of any actual health care benefit.
Under those circumstances, Tramaker, you're quite right that the goal is to get everyone insured. Health care itself has nothing to do with it.
"the insurance industry's huge profit skimming for their intermediary revenue handling processes that are entirely value-negative in terms of any actual health care benefit."
Do you think that makes a good soundbite? LOL
Dunno. But, if you do, feel free to use it. Judging by your "snappy comeback" you think corporate rip-offs and denials of needed health care services are humorous.
It should probably be mentioned also that Obama did make it quite clear that the dubious "services" of that same industry would be made compulsory for a nation whose per capita health care expenditures are already the highest in the world with some of the worst results.
The problem isn't what the insurance companies provide - it's that they don't provide it to everyone at a reasonable cost.
My Mother - who died of heart failure last year in Michigan - had insurance which cost approx $150 a month. This was in addition to Medicare. She received excellent care and there was never a problem with the insurance company.
The combo of insurance co's and a public system can work if it's regulated properly.
If you mean that they should charge less for excluding people in need of health care and denying their claims while providing themselves with huge profits and bonuses for collecting and paying out your money, I couldn't agree more.
Zero sounds about right to me for those "health care services"; or perhaps a hefty fine and some CEO jail time would be even more appropriate.
That only proves that they are not worthy to be trusted for receiving even more money, which this crappy idea will (excuse the pun) insure.
If what Matt Taibbi has written in Rolling Stone this week is true, apparently the President sold us all out up front by giving away the single-payer option to the industry and corporations as soon as the conversation started. And now we may or may not get a public option for insurance. We need them both. And we need them now.
Don't sell us out, Mr. President.
Please.
Mo Rage
The blog
hey all, a comment then report of statements by Weiner on C-Span---
The tip of for me was right at the beginning, "consumers do better w/more competition in the market place." Health Insurance will remain as a 'commodity' to be shopped around in this 'exchange mall' or whatever---all for a price & profit---& yes, it is to my mind, obscene to make profits off of others hardship, & Human Right Violation! either hc is a commodity or a hr, this is not a trick question.
To c-span comment by Weinner was bit hopeful," we got a debate on single payer on the house floor w/more robust coverage,.. I mean why should we be giving 300B in profit to ins co. for what------if there is not something stronger it will be difficult for many dems to go along----
how about something like, any one who wants to buy in to medicare is in!
gershon;Did not catch the "consumer" part and that is the cap on this con you would have thought one of his fellow scumbags would have caught it.Not americans,not citizens but consumers;buy into a sickness and then buy out.Just think of it!!!Tony
Classic Obama. Pander to both sides while shitting on the people who brought him to the Dance. His speech was filled with contradictions. Indeed, what a political hack!
You have to admit though, it was a great speech. Now we wait to see if he puts his money were his mouth is instead of leaving things up to Congress and Big Insurance to flesh out and destroy the last vestiges of health care reform.