The Speech
Posted by Steve Piontek, Editor-in-Chief in health care reform, opinion, public figuresPresident Obama seems to like highwire acts. Once again the president used a very visible speech to try and regain the upper hand in a situation that had seemingly gotten out of control. (Remember his speech on race last fall.)
His speech last night to a joint session of Congress on the need for health care reform was, in my opinion, another example of the president successfully doing what he needed to do. He made his case for health care reform and he made it forcefully.
The health insurance industry took its licks during the speech, but the president came nowhere near demonizing the business. He criticized health insurers, for sure, but in that he has lots of company across this country.
What he did was lay out the necessary elements of reform as he sees it without getting mired down in the itsy-bitsy details that would have become the targets for anyone wanting to take potshots at the entire reform effort.
I also thought the arc of the speech was just what it should be—going from policy elements to invoking the moral necessity for reform as embodied in the lifetime work and dream of Sen. Ted Kennedy.
The speech end on a high emotional note and a call to conscience as Americans that was stirring—and refreshing.
Of course, this being America, the land that seemingly flees from substantive matters at the merest hint of the bizarre, the major story on the online news sources this morning is not the subject of the speech, but the hideous spectacle of a South Carolina representative shouting “You lie” at the president during the speech.
This outburst may actually work for the president’s benefit, so reprehensible was it and so universally condemned. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., may have apologized quickly, but that should not be the end of it. The House needs to take some kind of disciplinary action against him, just as it would if he said it on the House floor while the chamber was in session.
Another thing that bothered me, although it only fleetingly came across the screen was a Congressman–I think it was Rep. Eric Cantor–texting while the president was talking.
It makes me mourn for the loss of civility—not to mention the most basic good manners–in politics and public life. Maybe the solution is to elevate Miss Manners to a high government position where that very prim and proper lady could knock some bad-mannered heads together.
In any case, President Obama is back in the game after a summer of watching from the sidelines. He laid out some pretty clear lines of thought and said he was willing to consider ideas from across the aisle, but also made clear he was going to do whatever he had to in order to get reform accomplished.
September and October should be really interesting.
Tags: health care reform
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Steve:
Being the editor for the national underwriter it seems odd that you would take such a stance with President Obama all the time. This publication would seem to have the insurers and agents best interest at heart. If Obama gets his way, most of the health insurance companies will be put out of business! The government has never made any issue or problem better by getting into the business such as Medicare, Medicaid, US Post Office and Social Security. We have the best health care in the world but it can always be made better, but not with government intervention. I am at the point now that I would like to fire everyone in congress and the white house and get back to the way the constitution was meant to run and that is that we never have “professional politicians” but members of society who go to congress and really have “our” best interest in mind when they right bills and spend “our” money. They work for “us ” the Amercian people and the sooner they remember that the better.
Wow, Steve Pointek’s articles are really beginning to sound biased…
Wow, Steve has an opinion. What if he wrote a piece praising Joe Wilson, would that still be biased?
And I agree, lets go back to the constitution that way it was written. I’m tired of blacks and women voting and I would like some slaves for my plantation.
And the Post Office is horrible. I liked it when letters were hand delivered by horseback. And Social Security is awful too. The elderly who have no savings or income should die in the streets. Animal Control can take care of them.
And while I’m at it Animal Control should be privately run. So should the fire department. Can’t pay? too bad.
Interesting analysis of a sales pitch; “[w]hat he did was lay out the necessary elements of reform as he sees it without getting mired down in the itsy-bitsy details that would have become the targets for anyone wanting to take potshots at the entire reform effort.”
The President is trying to sell us the most comprehensive reform of the nation’s health care and he is applauded for neglecting to identify the plan’s details. I wonder, does Mr Pointek actually believe that when I buy a personal health insurance plan, I should only be interested in the broad intentions the salesman tells me the plan encompasses, or should I be concerned about the ‘itsy-bitsy’ details? Seems to me that I really ought to know some very specific ‘itsy-bitsy’ things, such as what will be covered and at what cost. I think I should not be excited about the purchase when the response is, “Oh, it’ll cover everything and there is no cost”, or, even worse, “well, I don’t have any details on what it will cover, nor am I sure how much it’ll cost, but you really need it because its great and not being protected can be disastrous.”
Giving your whole-hearted support to a piece of legislation based on general promises, while not caring about the details, seems an odd position to take. Unless, of course, you think that it’s the salesperson’s promise that matters, not the product’s performance.
In that case, all we need to do to reform health care is allow agents to promise whatever the applicant wants them to promise and we’ll all be ok. Details be damned.
I might remind Mr. Coleman that the President does not write legislation, Congress does. What Mr. Obama did in the speech was outline what he considers the necessary elements of a reform plan. He did this in response to the rap–justified–that no one knew what he wanted in a reform package. Congress will supply the details, as it did only a few days later when the Senate Finance Committee released its draft.
I still think the President was wise to lay out the general guidelines of what he wants. It is all too easy for critics to single out one detail, blow it out of proportion and use this technique to discredit the entire venture. Wait, come to think of it, that’s exactly what you, Mr. Coleman, did with my blog entry.