Anyone who knows me and has read this blog knows how deeply entrenched in this issue I am an how deeply personal it is to me (pre-existing condition and all, self employed and uninsured). I've spent the last month, just like the rest of you, listening to all the crap out there about this health care reform bill. Hearing people scream outright lies and asking questions based on hyperbole and rhetoric at town hall meetings has frustrated me to tears. I've de-friended at least 2 Facebook "friends" because I couldn't take their nonsensical crap anymore ; posting about how Obama is Hitler, birth certificate conspiracy theories, and basically empty arguments against health care reform, all of which I have illustrated in this post. It's hard to discuss something with people who, in response to you actually posting FACTS and FIGURES to prove your point can only come back with "your a commie and a traitor". That just shows they know not what they speak and they have no actual facts to back up their assertions.
Needless to say, this exhausted "liberal", was so very excited when I heard that Obama was going to take the stage tonight at Congress and speak to them and to us and confront, head on, the lies and tell it straight out like it is. Finally. I was feeling alone and beat up defending health care reform and in particular defending HR. 3200 and the many wonderful qualities in it.
The President hit the nail right on the head. I particularly like how he called out all those politicians that did nothing but lie and spread outright falsehoods about the bill. I love how he addressed the seniors and reminded them that the Republicans, who are quick to claim that this bill is going to deplete their medical benefits, is the same party that wanted to make strong cuts to medicare and switch it to a privatized voucher system thereby disintegrating it. I love how he pointed out that when SS was first introduced the same argument about how we would lose our freedoms and become a socialist nation was unfounded, as well as when Medicare was first introduced.
The best line " We did not come here to fear the future, we came to shape it". Very powerful.
Most importantly he took every single one of the controversial issues that have been talked about and very strongly confronted the issue head on!
I had been feeling almost hopeless about reform being passed and he once again gave me hope. He let me know that he wasn't going to back down on the public option, something I feel is so very important for a comprehensive bill that will truly make insrurance companies more competitive (ie: trimming their excess in order to compete in premium costs with a much lower overhead government not for profit system). All the rumors of him making certain compromises I felt would render the bill unaffective, were quashed.
I literally had tears in my eyes listening to him speak about the issue, not only with the passion that he so obviously has for the issue but with conviction. And, everything he has said, every point he has made I have been making over and over again for weeks against the opposition.
This health care reform IS common sense.
There is ONE thing that I agree with Republicans on in this issue and that is the tort reform issue. I was very glad and proud that Obama was going to include that in this bill.
The Republican rebuttal was empty. They were once again talking about the entire over state lines issue. Well is not the national exchange just that.. a pool of many different insurance companies competing on a national level for consumers? Why are the Republicans so opposed to a public option to compete with private? As the President pointed out, it already exists in other areas without detriment to private industry. It never makes sense to me that the same party who constantly chants how incompetent the Federal Government is , is afraid to compete with it. The President even remarked how he would agree with their "fear" of a public option IF that public option was going to be funded by tax payers dollars which he clearly states will not.
And that Republican from SC, Joe Wilson , that yelled out "liar" when the President was speaking (I believe it was when the President talked about how it was a lie that this bill would cover illegal immigrants - and the bill doesn't say that at all.. I read that section and blogged about it in this post. It was completely disrespectful and he should be ashamed of himself. I plan on writing him and telling him so as soon as his website is accesable because I can't seem to get through to it at the moment (my twitter was a blaze with everyone tweeting that we should all email him and blast him for being so disrespectful, or, as I like to put it, for being a tool!).
So I will be anxiously waiting and watching wondering if those whiny neo-cons that have been spouting utter nonsense about this bill will finally give their crap a rest. I don't have much faith they will, but who knows. There is no reasoning with the irrational. They seem hell bent on turning Obama into Hitler and the anti-christ. I also hope that the public actually listened and took something positive away from this speech. This health care reform is such a good thing for this nation and so badly needed.
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