Obama Hits DeMint, Republicans For Playing Politics With Health Care; Commits To Reform 'By End Of This Year'
In a speech at Children's National Medical Center this afternoon, President Obama lashed out at health care reform opponents and committed to signing a bill by year's end.
"If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him." That unusually blunt assessment of Republican thinking on health care came from Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC). It may have been a bit too blunt, though. The White House is latching on to it to paint the opponents of reform as political animals, unconcerned with the welfare of the uninsured.
But, just as last week, Obama seems stopped short of insisting upon an August deadline for House and Senate votes--or even an October deadline for finishing work altogether, saying only "let's pass a bill by the end of this year." If the deadline is the end of the year, though, the strong implication is that the House and Senate won't have completed work on their bills by the time they adjourn for August recess--and that would damage the prospects for comprehensive reform in a number of ways.
Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
They really need to avoid this dragging. It's becoming more clear to even the Green Shooters that the fundamentals of the economy remain screwed up, if not worse (wait until the ARMS resets start sending the next wave of people into forclosure and the banks back off the cliff). As the economy draws further back into the lead story, the ability to cram healthcare through becomes eaiser for the GOP and DINOs to resist.
He really needs to keep the August deadline. Focus first on the House to get it out of Waxie's committee, which puts all the focus on the Senate Finance Committee for foot dragging.
It's 13-10 Dem on the committee with these Dems:
Max Baucus, Chairman, Montana
Jay Rockefeller, West Virginia
Kent Conrad, North Dakota
Jeff Bingaman, New Mexico
John Kerry, Massachusetts
Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas
Ron Wyden, Oregon
Charles Schumer, New York
Debbie Stabenow, Michigan
Maria Cantwell, Washington
Bill Nelson, Florida
Robert Menendez, New Jersey
Thomas Carper, Delaware
Obviously Conrad and Lincoln will try to drag their feet, which sadly makes it 11-12 if they both side with the GOP who will be lockstep. But it's really time to push this shit through. Force them to go on record voting against getting it out of committee.
John
July 20, 2009 2:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
TPM should stop with the concern-trolling. Every division is seen as a setback. It isn't.
July 20, 2009 2:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hear, hear! This aspect of the health care debate has been a weakness in the TPM coverage. And after reading the "Inflection Point" analysis from this morning (http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/07/understanding_the_pivot_points.php), I think the editorial decision to focus on the deadline has led them to miss important headlines.
What was more important about Obama's speech today: the fact that he's giving himself a bit of rhetorical room on the August deadline or the fact that he's aggressively controlling the images and narrative of the health care debate?
If Obama's team is taking Congress to task behind the scenes to move on the recess deadline, but decide that it's more productive to focus the public debate on the issue rather than the process, I'm fine with that.
And until we actually see evidence that Obama and the reformers are actually ceding the timeline to the opposition, they need to adjust their focus.
July 20, 2009 2:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
The money quote from his talk was this:
"The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice, savings, and efficiency to our health care system and greater stability and security to America's families and businesses."
[note: he actually misspoke and said "inefficiency" look for Fox and Rush to run with that one]
This is a succinct re-framing of the argument--the elevator pitch if you will-- that takes on many of the usual scare tactics. For example, it is about greater choice, not less, about security not insecurity. It is what going on the offensive looks like.
The rhetorical strategy has to be about the
July 20, 2009 4:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
To me, it is not an either/or proposition. But Obama's speech last night about the insanity of Senator DeMint's comment was right on. Imagine how the public views his really stupid remarks. His remarks put him on course to take on Obama personally and it was a really stupid political move on his part.. Remember, Obama overwhelmingly won this last election and many of of my party's legislature were run out of office. But there is always another election on its way and alas, we can hope and pray that the DeMint types are sent packing next time for his racist comments. So in the end, Republicans look truly irrational and they will be held accountable for DeMint's comments since my party has not publicly rejected his tirade. Republicans have succeeded in making moderates terribly uncomfortable with this sort of Anti American anti-black babble. Someone who is interested in the Party's winning back some seats needs to shut this guy up.
July 21, 2009 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
Do you have his actual comments? Because I haven't been able to find them. I think he should attack and attack the footdraggers, and call it for what it is: obstructionism.
And he needs to point out that no matter what Congress does, or doesn't do, elected officials in Congress have the sweetest, cheapest, and best health care program, and they're not going to be affected by inaction.
As for the "by the end of this year" comment--it's pretty clear that thanks to the glacial pace of the Senate Finance Committee, nothing is going to get done before the August recess, so what else is he going to say? That it will get done, and then, when it doesn't, has to pay the price of all the chatter about "Has Obama lost control?"?
July 20, 2009 2:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well put, CTV. Sometimes, the way our media treats Obama's words, it makes me think he's the only adult around, and the rest of us are children waiting for Dad to provide for our every need. He's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't; the expectations placed on the guy are beyond ridiculous sometimes -- and all because he's intelligent and articulate unlike his predecessor. Bush set the bar so low that now Obama's bar has been set incredibly high just because he's the complete opposite of Bush.
July 20, 2009 2:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Agree completely with you and CT. It is sad to see Obama have to go out and basically have to talk to Congress like children but this is the path that he must follow. De Mints comments were exactly what Obama said they were, political and this is all the GOP has done every since they had their powerpoint presentation with Frank Luntz. The GOP is more interested in marketing this battle than actually waging it! As I have said on multiple occasions, I am sure that many in the GOP tent actually have ideas but the face of the GOP "has no clothes!"
This is about American Health-care reform, and as I said to 2 conservative people who just moved down from Michigan to my neck of the woods, we all need to recognize and agree that Health-care as it is today is unsustainable. I do not know about the rest of you, but if you can get those from the other side of the isle to recognize this and you elicit a answer to the question of whether they consider themselves followers of fiscal responsability then we must ask Congress to ask. If they think the GOP has submitted a helpful resolution to our health-care then produce it and tell me how it is going to work. As I see it right now they only serious people on Health-care reform have been the WH and progressive and Liberal sides of Congress, yet every congressmen can see the numbers which tell us the current path is unsustainable! Fucking ridiculous.
July 20, 2009 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
TPM...you should be discussing WHAT THE FUCKING COST WILL BE WITHOUT HEALTH CARE REFORM??? HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE LOSING COVERAGE EVERYDAY AND HOW MANY MORE WILL DIE??
This is what the debate should be in this country but especially on TPM!!
July 20, 2009 2:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
I strongly second this. Coupled with the shameful reporting of the trash Rasmussen poll by TPM today, it is clear that TPM is rapidly losing credibility. It is simply repeating what others are telling it. The "others" being those with a Republican bent. TPM is letting them dictate the message and is acting just like the AP, Politico and yes even Fox News do.
July 20, 2009 3:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, sweet jesus.
This is the same TPM that's been publishing the excellent muckraking work? The same TPM that is posting the details of what actually happened in the Daily Markup? Seriously? The same TPM that is devoting its resources to an in-depth coverage of the health care fight? More in-depth than you'll find than at any other source?
July 20, 2009 3:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
I also agree --
The trouble with health care reform, though, is that it is essentially about public opinion ... it would be welcome if TPM dug a little deeper in understanding the minds of people who don't see any need to reform health care. I assume they fall into the following categories:
(1) they are partisan Republicans who want to see Obama fail regardless of the merits of the reforms
(2) they are partisan Republicans who have been trained through years of indoctrination to hear "socialism" when the words "health care reform" are uttered
(3) they are partisan Republicans who have been trained through years of indoctrination to imagine, when the word "socialism" enters their consciousness, to imagine some sort of caricatured version of East Germany before the fall of the Berlin wall, where six people have to fight over a single aspirin
(4) they are wealthy people who get excellent health care and don't see what the problem is
(5) they aspire to be wealthy people
(6) they have such a strong aversion to people who are less fortunate than themselves that they idea of such people getting any benefits from society -- other than a bus ticket out of town -- is unbearable
(7) they haven't had catastrophic illness or had friends and families suffer catastrophic illness
(8) they don't realize that the average recipient of health care in Canada or the UK is much much happier with what they get than the average American
(9) they are employees of a major for-profit insurance agency
(10) they don't realize that rationing of health care exists already
July 20, 2009 4:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
again, another terribly stupid thing to say.
July 20, 2009 5:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is what they should be talking about on ABC, CBS, NBC, in the papers - everywhere.
July 20, 2009 3:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Didn't Barack set the August deadline to get things moving in a serious way? Why should we care if the bill is finished by August or even October? As long as we get comprehensive health care reform this year, I couldn't care less whether it happens by an artificial deadline.
Too much "GOTCHA" reporting around here.
July 20, 2009 3:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
there's no gotcha here. and as has been explained before it isn't about the arbitrary deadline, it is that any way you look at it, the longer this drags out the surer it doesn't get passed or the surer it gets so watered down that it shouldn't get passed.
July 20, 2009 6:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tsk. My reader blogging is all for naught. Short answer: because the foes of reform are counting on having this thing hanging fire during the August MSM Stupid Season when they plan on unleashing their Swiftboat Patients for Cash attack ads and a flood of Sunday show flacks spouting lies. If bills have been passed by both houses before August recess and all that's left is getting it out of conference (meaning everyone in both houses will eventually have to cast an up or down vote on the conference report bill), it will be very, very difficult for the forces of darkness to kill with a mere fearmongering campaign. If it isn't out of committee before August recess, however, all they have to do to kill it is pursuade two or three committee Democrats to vote with the Republicans.
July 20, 2009 6:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Perfect response.
July 20, 2009 3:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd like to know how much Congress (say DeMint) pays for healthcare in comparison to the average worker, and if they have to worry about pre-existing conditions or medical bankruptcy. Do they have to go into COBRA if they lose their job? What is their typical lifespan in comparison to the national average? Let's see what they have that they are wanting to deny their constituents.
TPM needs to start contributing to the health care battle from a progressive point of view. Republicans say they will defeat Obama if health care isn't done by August recess, and TPM needs to quit buying their message. Obama has centered the entire country's conversation on health care. It simply isn't going to go away this time, no matter what the Republicans say.
July 20, 2009 3:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
If "this isn't about me" then what's the rush?
Unless there is a credible reason, the rush is easily explained by job approval and policy ratings.
July 20, 2009 3:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ah, it would not be TPM without Lalo throwing a couple of bombs.
July 20, 2009 4:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
You do realize that Hillary Clinton would be pushing for health care reform as soon as possible if she had been elected president as well, don't you?
Oh wait. You were never a real Hillary supporter to begin with. My mistake.
July 20, 2009 4:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think Hillary would have focused on fixing the economy first and wouldn't have made the deficit a trillion times worse just before proposing a reform with that kind of price tag.
In either case, thanks for the non-answer.
July 20, 2009 5:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dickhead. OF course it's not about Obama, it's about the 670,000 people that have lost their insurance this year. It's about the 47 million who never had any and still don't. It's about the untold millions who have insurance but are still pushed every month by the deductibles and perfectly legitimate drugs and treatments that are not covered. So screw you and your opinion, a politician can't say this so I will, I hope you run into a situation where you need healthcare now, and some jerk like you says "what's the hurry."
July 20, 2009 5:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dear Dickhead - thanks for the lecture. But I still don't understand.
Why August and not May? Or March 13, by midday?
Why not February, when he could have slipped it in instead of the stimulus? Think about the "untold millions" who could have been helped a whole 7 months earlier...
July 20, 2009 10:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
The rush is because everyday longer this takes is another day all the health care lobbyiests have to whittle away on real reform.
July 20, 2009 4:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why should people be surprised that sausage making of this magnitude is really ugly? The stakes are very high and while health care reform is not a zero sum endeavor, there will be many losers if it happens. So of course people are screaming and saying crazy things to try and stop it.
My hope is that the real deal making is going on behind closed doors and that the pandemonium we've all been hearing is only a distracting sideshow. If that's not the case, then Obama isn't as talented a politician as I thought he was.
Until he fails,though, I'll take him at his word and not bet against him.
July 20, 2009 4:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
"My hope is that the real deal making is going on behind closed doors"
- yeah, I remember the screaming about deal-making behind closed doors in the smoke-filled rooms. And promises for the most transparent, open government in the history of at least this galaxy.
July 20, 2009 5:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
lalo..you are better when you are not here.....babbling troll
July 21, 2009 12:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
So what are you saying exactly? Are you advocating that all negotiations between the White House and Congress happen in front of the cameras? Or are you expressing cynicism about perceived hypocrisy between between campaign rhetoric by the Obama campaign and the realities of political deal making in the process of governance?
If it's the former, then you are either naive or you don't want to see health care reform happen. If it is the latter, then I think you misunderstood what Obama was saying when he called for more transparency. If it was something else all together then I don't know what you're talking about and would ask you to explain.
July 21, 2009 11:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why so "fast" with the healthcre reform? Well, we have been after it for decades, first of all, so there is nothing fast about it, even if it hit the floor on Day 1. I'm wonderng what is next. I suspect Obama has an agenda and a timeline so this needs to be completed so we can move onto that next item.
There is also the above-mentioned whittling happening right now, where lobbyists are gettting their interests considered. As always, the reform will hardly resemble the drafted idea first provided for evaluation. So the goal is to get across the finish line with as few compromises as possible.
July 20, 2009 5:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
I love how some assholes say "why so fast" like we haven't been trying to get this done since Teddy Roosevelt was President.
July 20, 2009 6:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
The longer the delay the more likely that the public will become bored, then cynical about the inability of our government to get something so obviously important done. Once the current leadership is painted as incompetent and ineffective, the good guys can come rushing in with another contract with America and their mindless party discipline.
What's needed of course is a partisan solution to health care. The House and Senate bills as they stand could get the job done. Americans want universal care with a public option. They are not so stupid as to think that a government that could waste a trillion dollars on a needless war can't afford another trillion to save lives at home and protect us from personal bankruptcy in the event of serious illness. No one believes the argument that we can't afford it. But because of the administration's drive for bi-partisanship people like Pelosi have to pretend that it's a real issue.
Democrats may lose seats in the next election as a result of the backlash against such partisanship and the inevitable lag between passage and successful implementation of a comprehensive health care bill. However Democrats will be in a good position three years down the road, once the dust has settled and people see actual progress in lowering costs, improving service and covering everyone. (Of course, if the government can't make it work then it deserves to be replaced.)
Just as the GOP is trading short term goals for the health of the country, so are those Democratic reps who fear the loss of their jobs if they do the right thing.
July 21, 2009 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
"President Obama lashed out"
Did he "lash out" "angrily" and "rashly"? Or did he give a reasoned critique and rebuttal?
I think the latter.
Be careful of adopting "news" biz cliches that are hot but false.
July 21, 2009 3:43 PM | Reply | Permalink