Posted on 02/26/2010 8:11:58 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The White House was hoping the health-care summit would create momentum among Democrats to push their bill through Congress. It almost certainly did not work.
Both sides repeated points that have been made countless times over the past year. That being the case, it seems likely that the public will react to what they heard from the Blair House meeting much as they have to the months-long debate in Congress: by agreeing in larger numbers with the Republican view that the bill the Democrats are pushing is hopelessly flawed.
One reason for the Democrats’ trouble is that their talking points are simply not believable.
For instance, the president tried at the beginning of the meeting to claim that, if his plan passed, individuals would see their health-insurance premiums fall, and he claimed that the Congressional Budget Office backed him up in that regard. But that is not the case. CBO says that premiums would go up in the individual insurance marketplace, not down, because the Democratic plan would require minimum benefits that are much more costly than those of the high-deductible plans that are often selected today. Within an hour or so of first saying otherwise, the president was forced to concede this point.
Moreover, there are many studies showing that the premium spike from the Democratic plan would be even more severe than CBO predicted. Oliver Wyman, a respected actuarial firm, did a study for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association finding that premiums would be 54 percent higher in the individual market and 20 percent higher in the small-business market in five years if the Senate-passed bill were enacted. Oliver Wyman’s analysts and many other insurance experts believe the individual mandate in the Senate bill is too weak and won’t work. Consequently, the risk pool will become much less healthy over time, driving up premiums substantially.
On Medicare, the Democrats tried to claim that what they are doing is simply redirecting money from overpaid insurers to improve the solvency of the program. But seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans know better. They would get less in the way of benefits and in many cases would lose the coverage they have today if the Democratic bill were enacted. Moreover, most of the Medicare cuts would not be in Medicare Advantage. There are cuts for hospitals, clinics, and others that the administration’s own experts say would push one in five U.S. health-care facilities into financial distress. And the Democrats never had a response to the criticism that you can’t count Medicare savings both as an offset for their bill and as a source of revenue to pay for future Medicare benefits.
Americans rendered their verdict on Obamacare a long time ago. They don’t want any part of it. And the more they see Democrats pushing for passage over their clear objections, the more outraged voters become. If the president and his allies now think that, post-summit, they have new latitude to jam their plan through, they are sorely mistaken. Such a move would more than backfire: It would invite a public backlash of epic proportions.
I saw the audience on BO last night and was shocked to see such a negative response from all there. Even Dims had a negative reaction to the summit...
Democrats sob story soap opera — epic fail.
Wearing her dead sisters teeth was a little over the top. Even for Dems. Too much detail for this meeting.
In a way I almost hope they DO try to push it.... it would destroy the Dem party, obliterate it quite literally.
But I can’t justify such harm to so many people just for that.
The Obamanation must be STOPPED.
And Harry Reid lied. He said that nobody is talking about the reconciliation possibility. But he himself has talked about it. Many including the president have indirectly hinted at a “majority vote making sense”, which implies that they will go that route of shoving it down our throats.
Democrats should think long and hard if they want to abandon the rules of parliamentary procedure and the filibuster. The rules of the Senate can be changed at any time. Each House of Congress sets its own rules for debate, process, etc. The fact that they will now plan to openly violate the rules they want everyone else to live by shows terrible arrogance.
I found (as if I did not already know it) Obama to be arrogant, hypocritical, demeaning and if that was not enough, it was clear he did not care about a meeting of minds...he wanted his agenda passed and screw what anyone else thought about it. Totally against the whole point of what the meeting was supposed to be about to begin with. He proved he truly is just a Child-in-Chief.
Ah.......but this was the FIRST time the Republicans had a platform on which to articulate the plans they had to a national audience. The LSM has ignored them.
In that regard this summit was good for the Republicans and very, very bad for Obama and the dems who had lied incessantly that the Republicans were against health care reform and had no plans.
My guess is rank and file Dems are pretty upset by BO at this point.
Politics is the art of accomplishing your goal. Barrack has been a failure because he simply doesn’t understand this is AMERICA, not Indonesia or Kenya, and Presidents can’t rule by fiat. (Do I see a coincidence there?)
My guess is if he weren’t black, the Dem Leadership would take him to the woodshed, along with his two co-idiot allies Pelosi and Reid.
I revel in their discomfort and look forward to more.
The Obamamessiah, despite his vaunted intelligence, lacks the ability to learn from experience as demonstrated by even a Planula. His arrogance and elitism bar him from rational analysis.
Each party was speaking to it’s constituents. Dems have to use “little “ words.
Have you EVER in your entire LIFE seen a photo so telling-this is a man who would be a dictator and dreams of it continuously-he has NO TOLERANCE for genuine, constructive criticism and acts as if he is entitled to everything...including hogging his own so called summit.
I’m convinced that many still do not understand that Husseincare has NOTHING to do with health or care. It is a massive government takeover of the liberty of 300 million people...PERIOD! POWER AND CONTROL over everything we buy, own, eat, drink, do, say, think, believe...our every activity and ultimately, the length of our life. UNLESS, of course, you happen to be a politician, unionite, federal or state employee or otherwise “important” person.
All but the Blacks. They will back Obama no matter what.
Malia, came to me and, uhhh, said,.....DADDY! I can't breathe! And, ummm, errr, If I hadn't had health care, ummm, errr, uhhh, she would surely have died! Ummm, and,,,,,, and we are not here to tell stories, errr, ummmm, we are here to find a way to errr, pass health care the way that it uhhhh, now stands.
Stupid question, why haven’t his handlers pointed out this “finger” guesture to him?
Now what are you gonna do you boneheads!? If they honestly thought that they could get the Republicans to cave they are absolute morons!
“Liberals are deeply disappointed with the public, which fails to fathom the excellence of their agenda.” ~~ George Will
Just having the summit was a risk for 0bama and the dems. Now if they take the big risk and ram it through... it reminds me of the Jonestown deal...drink the Kool-Aid. OTOH it is funny to watch them self-destruct.
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