Among President Obama’ opening remarks at the Health Care Summit: “I hope this isn’t political theater.” We waited to see…
The Republicans sent in their health care experts first, not their leadership. Senator Lamar Alexander set the standard for a clear, succinct and straightforward presentation – a standard the Democrats simply could not match. He focused on points that both sides of the aisle were agreed upon – something the President himself did to wrap up the session – albeit underlining the areas where Republicans have pushed back.
He gave life and meaning to the proceedings when he threw down the gauntlet on a key Constitutional point:
He asked Democrats to drop their determination to push the bill through via the reconciliation process and to jointly begin again. If not, he said all that would be discussed thereafter would be irrelevant.
Reaction to this was as expected:
CNN’s senior correspondent, Candy Crowley made the MSM move from reporting to editorializing in her “tweet:”
oh dear lamar alexander says if pres. won’t scrub current hcare plan, vow not to jam through..nothing else today will mean anything. whoa
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Senate, Majority Leader Reid. Injected heavy doses of bipartisanship in their follow up remarks. Pelosi evoked the ghost of Edward Kennedy yet again. Reid was especially sharp when he characterized Senator Coburn, a medical doctor, as a senator engaging in a filibuster. Later it was discovered that the Democrats had taken the lion’s share of the time allotted. It remained for the President to demonstrate bipartisanship for is party – it’s lonely at the top.
Six hours of debate about what is at stake did provide more clarity on the issues for the average citizen. Also made clear was the dynamic that has brought the government to a point of gridlock – gridlock that will not easily end.
Pelosi pointed out that the Republicans had had a year since the first summit to help devise a bipartisan plan. Pelosi has a bad memory. When you are intent upon creating something behind closed doors, that is not a good fit with a public debate on the issues.
The President’s summary remarks took us back to the current stalemate. He assigned blame to Republicans for stalling progress in their refusal to embrace insurance reform relative to pre-existing conditions and by not wanting legislation to extend coverage to millions more people. He was emphatic that he will not go with their step-by-step approach. It will be all or nothing. He ended with the alternative that if agreement could not be reached in a month, then the voters would decide in November.
However, the President did leave the door open for use of the reconciliation process. It is a hallmark of the Democrats’ thinking that their measures could and should be passed by a simple majority vote. In doing so, they would be going against the mechanism the founding fathers inserted into the Constitution to slow debate and process to protect the voice of the minority and to make people think about what they were doing. Here is the point at which this whole business truly became the theater of the absurd.
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HotAir – Open thread: Obama health-care summit; Update: Video link added
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HotAir – David Gergen on the summit: Republicans had their best day in years
AFVET
February 25, 2010
Obama possesses no leadership skills.
He has no experience in running anything.
He is driven by ego, arrogance, and supported by the socialist/Marxist thugs he placed around him.
You stated that the President acknowledged that “everyone is mad at Washington”. True!
This guy has never been exposed to this level of controversy.
His arrogance to put it out there on C-SPAN is indeed gutsy, however, if it doesn’t go well for Barry, the videos may not exist for long.
samhenry
February 25, 2010
AVET I think Obama is having this conference or summit to offset the anger of voters he knows is there. I don’t think he has been an effective moderator never mind president.
ClassicFilm
February 26, 2010
I believe that Obama truly believed he could carry this off and not only impress American viewers with his suave leadership (sarcasm) that he could make the Republicans look bad. As it disintegrated before his eyes, you could see he was getting annoyed and disinterested. The look on his face when Rep. Ryan politely but firmly hammered him with the economic realities was very telling.
Obama is hoping to wear down America. By keeping this dang monstrosity on the table, he is biding his time until that perfect moment that he can ram it through. As Rahm Emanuel has said, “It’s not over til all the votes are counted.” Meaning, he or she with the greater staying power, like a tenacious dog with a blanket in its mouth, will be the winner.
Conservatives need to take their vitamins, because this ain’t over. Not by a long shot.
samhenry
February 26, 2010
You really nailed Obama at that Summit. He was only interested in what he has to say . He was a lousey moderator. Boy amd I glad I don’t work for him. He wll always be a weak, ineffective, frustated, President because he thinks he knows it all. It was clear he had his mind all made up. I thought that the Republicans kept their cool and just gave out the facts. Democrats waxed hot and gave out snipes and snaps and partisan clap trap. Pelosi and Reid were like Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumber. And you are right, they are trying to wear us down. We are already worn down.
We are in for more recession – possibly deeper and more gridlock. When you take a birds eye view of the US economy right now, we are in transition. We are no longer transitioning to a service economy, IMO. We are trying to get into making things – not just green things – that are relevant to needs now. There is a lot of it where I am because of Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Rochester and numerous other educational institutions that feed into our workforce. We have a bad economy up here but we have a good long tradition of innovation and we will make it in spite of Obama. Oh and how abut Hillary coming out about the national debt undermining national security – good for her but it is plain as the nose on your face.
ClassicFilm
February 26, 2010
Obama sucks at being a moderator because then, he’d have to be out of the spotlight and relinquish attention… it wouldn’t be “all about him.” Heck, he interrupted Republicans consistently, and his total talking time during the summit exceeded that of either party, with ALL people combined.
What a blabbermouth.
AFVET
February 27, 2010
Wasn’t it sweet to see Obama”s eyes go down to slits when Paul Ryan and John Boehner took him to task !
The seething within him was obvious.
That’s why he kept cutting the Republicans off, he was losing big time on camera.
LOL !
samhenry
February 27, 2010
Ah, yes. Remember it well. He all but said “It’s good to be king.” He just doesn’t realize the ship of state is on the rocks. Notice there is no talk of his win that day and that day he himself said there would not be any more summits like this – took too much time. Right.
ClassicFilm
February 26, 2010
Rush Limbaugh had stated the day before that this Blair House summit/dog-and-pony show was a trap… to make the GOP look mean and self-serving, putting a “face on gridlock,” the evil “Party of No.”
ROFL – talk about Team Obama shooting itself in both feet. And thanks to the lucid. well-crafted presentations and facts presented by Republicans, like Paul Ryan who came very prepared and spoke with passion but was respectful to not call the Democrat health care authors crooks with their bogus numbers, the GOP now looks like the “Party of Know.”
But it ain’t over til it’s over… Rahm, I’m convinced, is one of the powerhouses behind man-child Obama. And Rahm has a killer instinct.
samhenry
February 26, 2010
Love it -so true “Party of Know.” I think that and heard and not characterized.
Rahm is definitely the power behind the throne and he is a vicious and dangerous man. We essentially have a dictatorship. There is no way he will be asked to leave the WH.