Here Obama goes again, wagging his finger as though only he could know what is good for American people. Big daddy knows best. So you listen to me, children!
How do the American people put up with this arrogance? Doesn’t Obama realise that he is supposed to be leading a democracy? Obama seems to have so little political experience. The fact that he came to high office as an empty suit is more and more evident with each passing day.
America’s health system does indeed need reforming, but the baby should not be thrown out with the bathwater; rather, the system needs to be controlled better, and it needs a lot of tweaking into shape. But a European healthcare system – a national health care system as there is in Britain or France – probably would not go down well in America. It would probably not sit well with the psyche of the American people, the people living in the ‘land of the free’.
I often wonder whether Obama understands his compatriots very well; he certainly indicates that he is ignorant of their character and ways. In a few words, he doesn’t seem to understand what makes his fellow countrymen tick.
If he rams this legislation through Congress, he will pay a very high price for his folly in future elections. It will ensure that his presidency will be nothing longer than one term. – © Mark
TIMES ONLINE: President Obama declared for the first time today that he is prepared to steamroll his troubled health reform legislation through Congress with only Democratic support, a move Republicans denounced as the “nuclear option”.
Signalling that his patience had now snapped after a year-long fight over health reform, Mr Obama laid the ground for Democrats in Congress to muscle the Bill through using a high-risk legislative maneuvre known as reconciliation, which overrides a Republican filibuster.
Although he did not use the word “reconciliation”, Mr Obama made clear that is the uncompromising route he now intends to take with his top domestic priority. White House aides and top Democrats on Capitol Hill have also stated in recent days that, in the face of unanimous Republican opposition, the legislation will now be forced through.
By using reconciliation, Democrats can get the health reform package through the Senate with a simple majority, rather than needing the Bill to pass the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a Republican filibuster. Mr Obama’s party ceded their 60-stong majority in the upper chamber after losing the late Edward Kennedy’s Massachusetts seat in January.
That shock defeat was in large part due to growing public hostility to Mr Obama’s health reforms, which many see as too expensive at a time of exploding deficits. Forcing the Bill through Congress is, therefore, a high-risk strategy that Republicans vowed to exploit.
In a speech from the White House, Mr Obama conceded the risks involved. “I don’t know how this plays politically, but I know it's right”, he said. >>> Tim Reid, Washington | Wednesday, March 03, 2010
