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Obama Confident Health Care Reform Will Pass, Hopes Its Bipartisan

Brian Beutler | August 19, 2009, 5:11PM

Barack Obama, Health Care, Republicans

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Earlier today, at a White House ceremony honoring NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson President Obama said he's "absolutely confident that we are going to get a [health care] bill, and I hope it's bipartisan."

That hope is truly audacious, given that he's also apparently concluded that Republicans don't have any interest in being good faith health care negotiators.

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AnswerFrog

August 19, 2009 5:18 PM

The only question that matters is this:

How do we get to 50 votes in the Senate?

http://standwithdrdean.com/where_congress_stands

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LuxVeritas

August 19, 2009 5:21 PM

UGH!

I know you aren't this naive Obama. I know this is all for the political show. But it is so damn annoying for us who actually know what is going on and care about what happens!!

Please just drop the front and shove it down their throats. It isn't like they can bitch and lie much more than they already are. You are being compared to Hitler and people are bringing guns to your events, who cares if they whine that you aren't being "fair" because you are actually using the majority we gave you??

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mans_best_friend

August 19, 2009 5:40 PM in reply to LuxVeritas

Of course it's for show. It's a morality play with Obama as the reasoned reformer trying to reach out to the other side and the R's playing their part as The Party of No. This works to his advantage, and it sure as hell doesn't help the R's in the next election cycle. Take the long view. When the bill eventually gets passed, Obama and the D's will be the ones who got it done and the R's will be the ones who tried to stymie it.

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jerryfatheart

August 19, 2009 5:45 PM in reply to mans_best_friend

Absolutely. This is the kind of thing that gets picked apart on blogs, but played without real critical comment on the news channels and evening news broadcasts. The message that has emerged over these past two days is simple, really: The White House doesn't think the GOP, by and large, will play ball on reform, but will still be glad to have GOP support.

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The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve

August 19, 2009 9:34 PM in reply to LuxVeritas

At some point I'm really hoping that liberal bloggers and blog commenters will realize that getting a bill that makes them more or less happy and saying things to the MSM that make liberal blog commenters happy are often mutually exclusive activities.

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AnswerFrog

August 19, 2009 9:42 PM in reply to The Commenter Formerly Known as NCSteve

That's right. The more important thing is not making anyone happy, but delivering a quality bill. Then, people will ultimately be happy when it succeeds and pays off. This is why it's important not to be led by the nose by the MSM meme of the day. Just make a good bill and pass it as soon as possible.

This isn't about scoring points, although that's what everyone seems to think. The bill must work. Which is why I, not from any ideological viewpoint, think it must be robust at cost control and include a public option. Weak tea will fail to solve the problem.

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jerryfatheart

August 19, 2009 5:42 PM

I have to say I hope it's bipartisan, too. I hope that the other major party in this country finally gets on the train with their conservative brethren in other parts of the industrialized world (U.K., Canada, etc.) and embraces much-needed, real health care reform. I hope we can actually have a grown-up, critical conversation in this country about health care, among other things. I also hope that I'll get a big Christmas bonus this year, but it's not going to happen.

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