The lady with the Tea party shirt wants an answer, but when she realizes how complex the health care reform issue is, she looks bored five minutes in. Franken does a masterful job explaining that we can't sustain the way we do things in regards to health care insurance now, and that there is much more in common with regards to reform that everyone agrees on than there is discord.
Can someone tell me why President Obama hasn't tried this approach? I've seen enough of his town halls to give you his answers by rote, like "keeping the insurance companies honest." You need to spell it out for the six year olds, Mr. President. Talk to them like you would a 3rd grade class.
Don't get me wrong, one of the things I appreciate about President Obama is that he talks to us like adults and doesn't try to sweep the bad news under the rug. But those who usually listen to him and trust him aren't the ones he should be trying to connect with - the crazies and the teabaggers who got really tired of being overtaxed and became so fiscally conscious on January 20th are the ones he should try to reach. How? By speaking to them like six year olds. Use pretty charts with fancy colors, give a slide presentation, use doctor and patient hand puppets, do SOMETHING to make them understand that protesting on the same side as the very insurance companies that ass fuck them on a regular basis might not be in their best interest.
They've been acting like six year olds at town hall meetings all month. Maybe it's time to treat them like six year olds.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Senator Franken's Easy Explanation of Reform
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
ShareThis
4 comments:
I may be wrong.. but I actually think he thought Congress would do their damn job and help him more than they did.. lets face it.. he was really out there on his own, doing all the sales job, doing all the explaining on his own. I think for the amount of time he spent talking, in Town Halls, on the radio, on the TeeVee, and in the newspapers he did as much as he could.. but he was alone.. until just recently when some members of Congress have started stepping out.. and then what do they do.. demand him to do more and criticize him for not being more forceful and for not being clear enough about what he wanted.. Sorry, I thought he was clear earlier.. and if they had gotten things done like he wanted before the August recess we wouldn't be in the mess we are in now.
I agree, Annette. The problem (in my opinion) is that President Obama has never stood his ground on the public option, and frankly, neither have any of his White House spokespeople. I'd be more confident if he had drawn a line in the sand early on. Maybe Wednesday will be the moment, but I'm not as hopeful as I was a few weeks ago.
Yes, the delay before the recess caused exactly what we thought would happen and what the GOP hoped, but it seems that as The White House's poll numbers declined, so did their zest for real reform. Co-ops are not the answer. Neither is a trigger.
Maybe he's biding his time, waiting for the Finance Committee to crap out it's bill before he can go gangbusters, but I haven't seen or heard anything that gives me that feeling. Only the opposite.
I truly hope he lays it on the line in front of Congress next week, otherwise I, along with millions of others, who supported the President with our votes, our money and our sweat are going to be a pretty disappointed, angry crowd.
But I don't think the President has given up the Public Option.. I think that is all talking heads just talking.. When I hear David Gregory saying it and Chuck Todd saying it.. I put very little faith in it...lol Sorry, but they are wrong way more than they are right..
By the way.. did you notice about 1:30 in this video the explanation he is giving about the Switzerland model... he is talking about the regulation of Insurance there and how strict it is and how the government controls it, yet there is NO PUBLIC OPTION.
Everyone is holding this up as the gold standard yet no one is noticing he is pushing a reform with NO public option... Maybe this is what we need..
I hope you're right, Annette. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed and an attentive ear with a hopeful outcome on Wednesday.
Post a Comment