Posted on 01/27/2010 5:31:11 AM PST by IbJensen
President Obama delivers his first State of the Union speech tonight to a wary nation. He must reconnect with voters who elected him less than 15 months ago on the promise that he would fix the economy, heal Washington's partisan divide and reject the back-room deal-making that prevails on Capitol Hill.
On the first promise, he has made some progress. The economy has yet to recover its footing, but Mr. Obama's efforts stopped the slide and fended off an even worse recession. In pushing through a stimulus package and keeping the auto industry alive, the president moved swiftly and boldly, fulfilling the promise of leadership.
But when it came to an overhaul of the healthcare system, he faltered badly. He delegated too much control to Democratic pols in Congress, who presided over a messy debate that resembled a bargaining session in a Third World bazaar more than a law-making procedure that will affect one-sixth of the nation's economy. Some of this sausage-making is inevitable, but Mr. Obama can be faulted for not being engaged, allowing ``death panels'' and other phony issues to get traction.
Inevitable, too, is partisanship. Too many Republicans in Congress seem to represent a knee-jerk ``rejectionist front.'' But Mr. Obama could have helped his own cause by making some concessions to the GOP, such as including tort reform in the healthcare overhaul.
Mr. Obama insists that he gets it -- too many people are out of work, frustrated with the lack of progress in the economy, and concerned about skyrocketing national debt created by two wars and a host of well-meaning programs to help the unemployed.
As part of his new plan to reach out to the middle class, the president will offer a modest plan to freeze some government spending to reduce the flow of red ink while increasing tax credits for child care. But on the eve of his speech, the Senate rejected a plan to create a commission that would offer ways to slash future deficits, signaling the political difficulty that lies ahead.
Above all, Mr. Obama should not give up on healthcare reform. His party lost a key election in Massachusetts, but that does not erase the need to fix a broken system. The Senate proposal -- similar to Massachusetts' universal coverage plan -- makes vital improvements like ending the practice of denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, banning annual or lifetime spending limits, and controlling costs.
Mr. Obama, a gifted campaigner, now has to show Americans that as president he's fighting for Main Street and that healthcare reform is as much about making insurance affordable as it is about fixing the economy and staggering federal deficits.
The problem is this: people are tired of him.
Time after time, he promises something new, failing to deliver.
How many people do you think still pay attention to this azzhat?
See the links in post 43-46 and on the last page.
Expanding support for families balancing work with caring for elderly relatives with a $102.5 million Caregiver Initiative adding $52.5 million in funding to Department of Health and Human Services caregiver support programs that provide temporary respite care, counseling, training, and referrals to critical services. The administration says the extra funding will allow nearly 200,000 additional caregivers to be served and 3 million more hours of respite care to be provided. It also adds $50 million to programs that provide transportation help, adult day care, and in-home services, such as aides to help seniors bathe and cook, help which eases the burden for family members and helps seniors stay in their homes.
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/01/obama-puts-social-security-chopping-block
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.