Obama to Address Health Care at Joint Session of Congress 9/9

Abc News ^ | 9/2/09 | ABC News

[Shellybenoit]

President Obama will address a joint session of Congress on Sept 9.

This comes as the White House has been signaling publicly that they are ready to take charge of the health care debate.

So, this settles the 5th of the 5 health care strategy questions I laid out earlier on this blog today. The other 4 remain.

- George Stephanopoulos

[kabar]

Axelrod is setting this up so that the Reps who are the minority will be jeered and shouted at by the majority, i.e., the Dems. And when the Reps express their disapproval, they will be portrayed as racists and against health care reform. The image will be that the majority [of Congress] favor ObamaCare. Some Americans may be swayed by that image and may want to identify with the "majority." Goebbels would be proud.

And Obama will get a huge public audience. If the Reps were smart, they would boycott it.

[mainepatsfan]

For all the Waterloo analogies associated with this struggle this move is equivalent to Napoleon ordering his imperial guard to smash the British line.

[Ohioan]

This man has all the earmarks of a power grasping Totalitarian. Do no be surprised if the speech is primarily directed at a TV audience, simply using the Congress as a prop. Do not be surprised if there is a mass demonstration outside the Capitol, or if the House Gallery is packed with Obamanists.

For a traditional Conservative take on Obama & the phoney Health Care Crisis: Health Care Or Armageddon?.

The tactics will likely be intimidation and appeals to the mob. The purpose has little, if anything, to do with actually solving anybody's health problems.

[kabar]

No, Obama is in a win-win situation with this gambit. He is putting the Reps in an inferior position where they will be outnumbered by almost one hundred people. And the image will be that the Reps are blocking this when the reality is that the Dems can pass anything they want. They don't need the Rep votes.

This is the equivalent of a Stalinist show trial with the Reps in the dock. If they express disapproval with what Obama is saying, they are disrespectful and obstructionist. If they remain silent, the Dems applause will make it seem like the majority of people support ObamaCare. It is lose-lose for the Reps, especially given the MSM bias and partisanship.

Obama will rise in popularity among his base and be seen as the great compromiser interested in the welfare of the people, especially the children.

[b4its2late]

I see it more of an in-your-face move which won’t be taken very well by us common folk. But what the hell do I know?

[kabar]

It certainly offends me and those of us who don’t want ObamaCare. But he is not directing his message to you and me.

[Uncledave]

I don’t agree. Obama isn’t having problems selling Obamacare because of some public perception that republicans are standing in his way.

[Ohioan]

It looks like I posted a defective link to the article on Obama & Health Care. Here is one that will hopefully work:

Health Care Or Armageddon?

[joebellis]

excellent pics - great work.

[cubreporter]

Yawwnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

[numberonepal]

I heard on the Interweb that Obama was going to resign.

[kabar]

Disagree. I have been to several townhall meetings and several demonstrations. The other side is blaming the Reps and the insurance companies for creating this “astroturf” opposition and that the majority of Americans are for the program. They just have to overcome the disinformation put out by those wascally Reps.

[Honorary Serb]

I’ll bet that this (teleprompter-driven) “news” conference will have much lower ratings than Soros-obama-Pelosi would like.

Last night, I had a dream that was so vivid I was sure that it was real. The news said that some sort of assassin wounded a Republican congressman, whose name I did not get. Later, the news said that Phil Gramm had been killed.

When I woke up, I thought that it must be a dream, and vaguely recalled that Gramm was no longer in the Senate. But I had to go to the Internet to make sure that it wasn’t real.

I guess that all the talk of “Townhall violence” and other purported “violence” over obamacare and the rest of obama’s cracked legislative program has gotten to me.

[sanjoaquinvalley]

It may very well backfire on him. Wise people in the entertainment industry will tell you that overexposure will cause the public to turn on people real fast. No one wants to have someone jammed in their face 24/7. Granted he's supposed to be a president not a celebrity.But we all know that he's nothing more than a very cheap celebrity along the lines of A Face in the Crowd.When people get sick enough of him, he'll be tossed away like yesterday's news. I heard Ruben Navarette, who is a fairly liberal newspaper columnest on the radio this morning and he said he believed Obama would never win re-election because he's already lost the independents and moderate dims.He seemed pretty happy at the thought of getting rid of him.

[Raycpa]

Will he be able to hypnotize congress?

I think he can.

[Uncledave]

Yes, that’s what the dems are *saying* — but who aside from his faithful is buying it? The polls have Obamacare and Obama himself sliding downwards, and he’s blamed republican opposition for months now.

[SoldierDad]

Ping for later so I can view the pics.

[OldDeckHand]

This is not a news conference, where presumably the press acts as a foil to the president, challenging his positions and presenting questions from an opposing point of view - yes, I said presumably.

Having said that, I wonder if the GOP will ask for some rebuttal time, just as given the opposition party when POTUS gives his SOTU address. And, if they ask, will it be granted?

I believe that the GOP should also demand rebuttal time for Obama's comments to public school children on Sept. 8th, as well.

[BlueNgold]

Don’t tease.

[pabianice]

Sorry. My wife and I are only up to episode 108 of the 256 episodes in the Stargate SG-1 anthology.