That health care “summit” on Thursday should be interesting
Let’s see: I want to compromise with a group of people, get their ideas on solving a joint problem. I call a meeting with them, and ask others to witness it (I even get cameras to film us and broadcast the proceedings).
But first, I announce that I’ve got a plan, and I say what it is. The plan contains everything I want and nothing they want. And I say that if they don’t accept it, tough. I’ll put it into play anyway, even if I have to break the rules (or invent some new ones to do it).
The other people would be forgiven if they don’t think I’m making a good faith effort to actually get their input and maybe even adopt some of it. The other people would be forgiven if they thought the meeting and the broadcasting of it was just for show.
The WSJ has a chilling summary of what we can now officially refer to as Obamacare, since these proposals come straight from the President’s mouth. The WSJ has this to say about his accomplishment:
…[It] manages to take the worst of both the House and Senate bills and combine them into something more destructive. It includes more taxes, more subsidies and even less cost control than the Senate bill. And it purports to fix the special-interest favors in the Senate bill not by eliminating them””but by expanding them to everyone. The bill’s one new inspiration is a powerful federal board that would regulate premiums in the individual insurance market….
The coercive flavor that animates this exercise is best captured in the section that purports to accept the Senate’s “grandfather clause” allowing people who like their current health plan to keep it. Except that “The President’s Proposal adds certain consumer protections to these ‘grandfathered’ plans. Within months of legislation being enacted, it requires plans . . . prohibits . . . mandates . . . requires . . . the President’s Proposal adds new protections that prohibit . . . ban . . . and prohibit . . . The President’s Proposal requires . . .” After all of these dictates, no “grandfathered” plan will exist.
Got that, everybody? The Democrats love to label the Republicans as the party of “no,” but how could anyone who understands the provisions of this bill (and is not already a “progressive”) ever say “yes” to it?
[NOTE: I don’t usually listen to the radio, but yesterday I was in my car and happened to tune into Newt Gingrich speaking to Hannity. When I heard Gingrich’s suggestions, it occurred to me that if the Republicans followed them, they might have at least a tiny chance of making the Democrats look like “the party of ‘no.'”
How? (1) come to the meeting and immediately say to Obama that if it were to be truly bipartisan, the Republicans should get half the time to speak and present their plan. If Obama says “no,” point out the hypocrisy of his bipartisanship and walk out. (2) if he says “yes,” present their own plan point by point. Reiterate that they have been suggesting these things over and over and they have not been incorporated. Explain how they have been frozen out of previous meetings. (3) point out the actual ramifications of Obamacare; quote the WSJ and other reliable sources. Be sure to include the fact that it will destroy the private insurance business and violate Obama’s oft-repeated promise.
Will this help? I’m not at all sure, but it’s better than just sitting there and having Obama and the Democrats set the whole agenda.]
It will be interesting to see if his Majesty will be seated upon a throne. 🙂
Gingrich’s plan sounds good to me. Obama and his people have stacked the deck on this “bipartisan” meeting six ways from Sunday.
If Republicans don’t push back at a global level, they end up buying into Obama’s format and they lose.
Fortunately, House Republican Leader John Boehner is sticking to his guns:
I like Gingrich’s strategy and tactics. It’s probably the best strategy for them. That said, no matter what the Republicans do, the MSM is going to fully support the Democrat spin and portray the Republicans as obstructionist. That is the sole purpose of this meeting. It’s political cover for Obama, Pelosi and Reid to ram through the legislation using the reconciliation process.
In an industry that has a 3.4% profit margin, (http://www.usnews.com/money/blogs/flowchart/2009/08/25/why-health-insurers-make-lousy-villains.html) regulating premium increases while requiring the mandatory extension of coverage to individuals facing expensive care for pre-conditions is a formula for economic bankruptcy.
This legislation will destroy private health insurance within the US and within 5 yrs or less force us into a Canadian-style socialistic public health care system.
It will force Americans to pay for federally funded abortions. And that alone is going to create a political firestorm, greater even than the Vietnam War protests. Civil disobedience will rise to a level never before witnessed because forcing people to pay for what millions consider, in their heart of hearts, to be murder will create a conflagration which will attain such intensity that it will be impossible to extinguish. The Democrats are about to commit political suicide. They are literally slicing their own throats.
Iran will almost certainly announce that they have the bomb within the next 9 months… and, according to the CIA Director in recent testimony before Congress, we can expect to be attacked again by Al Qaeda sometime within the next 3-6 months.
By November, the Democrats may, incredibly, lose nearly every seat up for election. It shall be the largest electoral reversal in US history.
This will make the history books and doom the Democrat’s to a political wilderness from which they will only emerge after ‘progressivism’ has been completely purged from the party.
Iran gaining the bomb will result in the emergence of a nuclear arms race within the M.E. before 2012 and nuclear proliferation will greatly increase among unstable third-world regimes.
It is now certain that Obama will be a one-term President, as his poll numbers can only go down. And if he continues to use executive orders to implement other radical parts of his agenda, in an attempt to force the US even further towards socialism, he will be impeached and removed from office.
This meeting is a setup from start to finish. The plan is to make the Republicans look foolish, and they will if they walk out. I don’t know how many Republicans are invited to attend but the fewer who go the better. Whatever proposals are made by the Republicans will most likely be ridiculed. One Republican’s response to any of Obama’s sarcastic claims that the Republicans are and remain the party of NO could be to reply simply that we are only voting how are constituents are telling us to vote. I can’t remember ever contemplating such a theater of the absurd.
Do you recall any speech, public appearance, town hall meeting, or whatever, when Obama was ever gracious to Bush or or did not attack either a real or straw party opponent?
Should the Democrats try to push this plan into law through the reconciliation process the damage will be incalculable to our republican form of government. We will soon be reduced to passing all laws based on the barest of majorities. We will be trading our beloved republic for a tyranny of the majority. This will bring on anger and could lead to mob violence.
I hope that there are more than a few Democrats who can foresee these consequences and act accordingly.
If the Republicans manage to obstruct Obama’s attack on our economy, I will forever be grateful.
Instapundit linked to this note from the CBO yesterday. Apparently the President’s plan lacks so many specifics they can’t even score it.
Yikes! Stuff like that usually means it will cost a hell of a lot more than anyone can imagine.
Sometimes you must tell children “NO” for their own good.
Apparently the President’s plan lacks so many specifics [the CBO] can’t even score it.
MikeLL: Good point. I saw that too.
Perhaps it’s another reason that Reid expects it may take as long as 60 days to bring Obamacare to a vote.
And that’s another reason I would expect Democrats to become increasingly nervous about Obama. Focusing so thoroughly on an unpopular bill is a huge risk for the party right before the midterm elections.
I don’t think Reid and Pelosi have the votes now and barring some miracle at the infomercial on Thursday, I don’t see how they will have the votes later.
If healthcare fails and the economy remains stagnant, they will enter the November elections with zero accomplishments in almost two years.
Obama/Pelosi/Reid “bi-partisanship” reminds me the well-known Ring Lardner, Jr. line: “Shut up, he explained.”
Also, there is this Mark Steyn note via the NRO’s Corner:
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Politician Makes Controversial Statement [Mark Steyn]
If I were minded to make a health care TV ad, I’d rustle up the Premier of Newfoundland’s interview on NTV last night. Justifying his decision to eschew the pleasures of the monopoly government health care system he presides over for heart surgery in a Florida hospital, Danny Williams told his fellow Newfs:
It’s my health, it’s my choice.
As Scaramouche points out, there’s your slogan.
By the way, the Canadian state does not accept that proposition, which is why, if a Canadian such as Mr Williams wishes to exercise his choice he is obliged to leave the country.
02/23 09:11 AMShare
Wage (for doctors) and price controls, central planning, forced equality… but none dare call it socialism. 🙂
This is somewhat OT, but it summarizes beautifully what is at stake with the Obama agenda: a great account of American exceptionalism at NRO:
http://nrd.nationalreview.com/article/?q=M2FhMTg4Njk0NTQwMmFlMmYzZDg2YzgyYjdmYjhhMzU=
Here are VDH’s comments on the Lowry/Ponnuru essay.
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MjA3YjY0NmM1YTBkNDc4MDVhMGUxNDViOWYxN2UxNTM=
“Come into my web” said the spider to the fly.
How about questioning the need for a plan to fix something which isn’t broken.
Geoffrey Britain @ 2:42–
Would that it’ll all play out like that. God, I sure hope it does . . . but I’m not convinced it will.
“The plan contains everything I want and nothing they want.”
This seems to be the only flaw with what you are saying. I don’t think this watered down insurance company pandering bill is what Obama really wants. He is a good person after all, so he probably wants something closer to the Canadian system. You know, something humane. What he put on the table is a massive compromise to the insurance industry and the Republican nihilists. If you can’t see that, then you really shouldn’t think of him as a liberal at all.
Maybe I didn’t explain it enough:
NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! ! !
Clear now?
“How about questioning the need for a plan to fix something which isn’t broken.
But it’s obviously as essential as cap and trade to curtail AGW!
Where’d Simon come from? SEEMS REMARKABLY IGNORANT.
While you are contemplating Obama & Co. setting the fires and then sitting back and watching Rome burn, fiddling around with the massive power grabs of supposed “reforms” of a health care industry in “crisis”, and a Cap and Trade bill to solve the utterly discredited “crisis of AGW,” you might want to contemplate some real pain; the fact that according to a CNN report out yesterday 11.3 million, or 24% of all U.S. residential mortgages are “underwater,” –and in Nevada that percentage is 70%, in Arizona 51%, in Florida 48%, in Michigan 39% and in California 35% (http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/23/real_estate/underwater_rates_rise/index.htm) .
Coupled with a real unemployment rate of something over 17%, you can see why people are screaming to this crew, Jobs!, Jobs! But, they resolutely refuse to listen or, perhaps, they are just waiting for the fires to spread and to become more intense before stepping forward with their solution of more and more government intervention and control, and of Tyranny.
In line with the statistics above, I note that the Commerce Department is reporting the greatest decline in new home sales–11.2%–in the 50 year history of compiling this , and that, of course, this decline, like so many other items of bad economic news, was “unexpected,” since a rise of 5% was forecast (http://www.chicagobreakingbusiness.com/2010/02/us-home-sales-fall-to-lowest-annual-rate-on-record.html).
I don’t know who is to blame–any guesses?–for the fact that month after month, whether it is new claims for unemployment insurance, housing sales, deficit figures, or the percentage of mortgages sliding toward foreclosure, there is such a lot of “unexpected,” and bad, economic news.
Obama has gone on TV recently to say that “my administation has averted a second Great Depression,” and that “the worst is behind us.”
If you get all your news from the MSM, you probably might believe him, and think that “things are lookin up,” since Obama & Co. and the MSM highlight and focus on the good news, and downplay or don’t report the bad news.
On balance, though, I’d say that things are getting worse, are spreading each day to encompass more and more sectors of our economy, and at an accelerating pace, as in “we have jumped over the edge of the cliff and are falling–faster and faster– towards an impact with the ground below.”
I’ve pretty much loved checking out the articles here on neo-neocon » Blog Archive » That health care “summit” on Thursday should be interesting. Quite interesting and also easy to go through.
Cheers
Johanna Jenney