7.5 hours of what?

The President met with Congressional Republicans at the Blair House this morning to talk about Healthcare. You couldn’t call it a meeting of the minds or an effort to compromise. The Republicans have no intention of seeing this through and everyone knows it. So basically the public watched over 7 hours of Republicans regurgitating the same old talking points while President Obama swatted them away like tsetse flies. At times it was fascinating. Even after watching PBO speak at various events for the past 3 years, I still marvel at his utter command of information. I still have to pinch myself as reminder that we now have a smart President.

Like I said, some of it was engrossing. Most of it was snoozeworthy. The question was whether or not anything actually got accomplished. Well, the Democrats still seemed really squeamish about the use of reconciliation and the Republicans were content to poo poo everything. So I would say no. Interesting political theater but useless nonetheless.

Now that the pundits feel like they’ve actually earned their checks, can the rest of us get a health care bill passed?

righteous and real anger

We had been warned beforehand.  Representative Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota had hit the button on the siren and called the Tea Party Folks to descend upon Capitol Hill to confront her fellow Congressmen and women. They were to declare that they didn’t want their health care taken away. They didn’t want Nancy Pelosi and Co. to spend all of their hard earned taxes. They didn’t want any part of Socialism! Come they did, about 4,000 in number. Some were arrested but most were content to work themselves in a lather on the steps of the Capitol building, spurned on by Bachmann, Boehner, Cantor, Foxx, and a few other fools responsible for the spread of the blatant misinformation about health care reform.

They came with offensive signs, they screamed, and they yelled. They had John Voight drive another spike into their fear filled hearts (Angie, come get your Daddy, please). They were led in a bungled recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. They were given a mucked up civics lesson by John Boehner. One of these days he’ll actually read something, maybe like the Constitution, or the Republican health care bill. They rallied as if they were part of some kind of new revolution. A Republican red, 99% white, and blue collar revolution.

Well, wave a flag and shed a tear folks. As for me, I’m completely nonplussed at the situational patriotism that was displayed. Had it been the other side protesting, they would have been called traitors or even worse. Only middle American, Obama hating, native-born people can love this country. Yeah, I get it. Now get on your buses paid for by Insurance lobbyist funded Astroturf organizations and go on home. We’ve been through this righteous anger all summer. The shit is tired.

We were warned but we weren’t ready for a horrific display of real anger that was shown today. It didn’t happen in the rotunda in Washington, but on an army base in Texas. Shortly after 1:00, an Army major and two or possibly three accomplices shot and killed 12 people and wounded 30 more. While the bobbleheads on The Right were dealing in manufactured fear on the Hill, the residents of Ft. Hood were facing the real thing. Fellow soldiers who stood alongside them and took the oath to protect the country from enemies, turned their guns on them and cut them down ruthlessly. Details are sketchy right now. A name and picture was released and stories are floating out that one of the men was to be deployed to Iraq at the end of this month. Surely within in the next few days a clearer picture will be drawn of the men and the circumstances that caused so much terror and death. But like I said, we were warned. Our military men and women have been stretched to the breaking point with the weight of two wars and a lack of mental health services available. Soldiers who have seen the worst acts of human nature imaginable abroad are being sent on tour after tour with no time to decompress or heal. Suicide rates were skyrocketing. The divorce rate of military service people have shot through the roof. The break was coming. We were warned.

So let’s all direct our prayers to the victims and their friends and family at Ft. Hood. Let’s give our sympathy and attention to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice; not to those with an entitled sense of anger and only want to further spread hate.

dashed hopes

The healthcare fight has been comprised lately of anger, lies, misdirection, and now appeasement. This weekend, President Obama and his top surrogates started to throw the Public Option under the bus and conservative Democrats have been touting the concept of co-op healthcare. It’s safe to say with the apparent waffling from the administration, those on the Right are delighted and those on the Left are befuddled.

At a town hall meeting in Colorado, the President asked healthcare reform supporters to knock on doors and get the message out. Huh? With all the confusion about what’s going to be reformed and what isn’t, how are they supposed to spread a message they don’t understand. To me, that’s the biggest reason why their hasn’t been a huge pushback against healthcare opposition. There simply isn’t much to support at this point.

On the one hand, you have the Republicans who are dead set against any kind of reform. Then you have the Conservative “Blue Dog” Democrats who come from swing districts are are afraid they will be booted out of office. Let’s not forget the Congressmen and women whose pockets are lined with health insurance money. Oh, and the Liberal Democrats who are pissed because the single payer option was never considered. Throw in lobbyists, pundits, conspiracy theorists, and ex-Presidents, and it’s just a big ol’ mess. The already complicated matter of changing the way Americans receive and pay for their health seems even more complicated.

I hate to do this but I gotta place a lot of the blame on PBO. In his desire to try to get the Republicans to hop aboard his Change train, he allowed the reins of the debate to be taken away from him. As a result, the townhall mobs got more media attention than he did. While his getting on the trail and holding townhalls of his own is appreciated, in order to satisfy his real base, he needs to declare what HIS vision of healthcare should be. He then needs to direct the Democrats to follow suit. If the Republicans are down it’s all good, if they aren’t then he needs to let them know that healthcare reform is going to pass with or without their help.

Finally, he needs to take into account of what Progressives want. Much of the spin coming from the White House involved placating the fears of seniors, on-the-fence Independents, and pharmaceutical companies. The Public Option must be included. Our voices must be heard, the real story of what this healthcare crisis entails must be told. Otherwise, what support he had counted on will be gone as well.

Real Talk.