He Can’t Help Himself
Thursday, March 4th, 2010When it comes to telling it like it is, President Obama is a failure. Not a total failure but a failure nonetheless. In the interest of fairness, let’s start with what President Obama got right:
Where both sides say they agree is that the status quo is not working for the American people. Health insurance is becoming more expensive by the day. Families can’t afford it. Businesses can’t afford it. The federal government can’t afford it. Smaller businesses and individuals who don’t get coverage at work are squeezed especially hard. And insurance companies freely ration health care based on who’s sick and who’s healthy; who can pay and who can’t.
President Obama is right. Republicans and Democrats think that the current system needs reforming. Here’s where President Obama resorts to his favorite trick, the use of the strawman argument:
On the other end of the spectrum, there are those, including most Republicans in Congress, who believe the answer is to loosen regulations on the insurance industry, whether it’s state consumer protections or minimum standards for the kind of insurance they can sell. I disagree with that approach. I’m concerned that this would only give the insurance industry even freer rein to raise premiums and deny care.
If President Obama means that conservatives believe that patients should have the right to consult with their physicians and determine what’s best for them, then I’ll admit he’s right. If President Obama means that Republicans want to totally deregulate the insurance industry, then he’s wrong.
Furthermore, it’s far from certain that President Obama’s comprehensive plan will work. States like Texas have proven that reducing lawsuit abuse cuts health care costs by reducing defensive medicine costs.
Here’s another example of President Obama’s outright deceit:
Finally, my proposal would bring down the cost of health care for millions,families, businesses, and the federal government. We have now incorporated most of the serious ideas from across the political spectrum about how to contain the rising cost of health care, ideas that go after the waste and abuse in our system, especially in programs like Medicare. But we do this while protecting Medicare benefits, and extending the financial stability of the program by nearly a decade.
This WSJ article highlights Rep. Paul Ryan’s arguments against President Obama’s claims:
The real cost over a decade is about $2.3 trillion on paper, Mr. Ryan estimates, and even that is a lowball estimate considering how many people will flood to “free” health care and how many businesses will be induced to drop coverage. Mr. Obama claimed yesterday that the plan will cost “about $100 billion per year,” but in fact the costs ramp up each year the program exists. The far more likely deficits are $460 billion over the first 10 years, and $1.4 trillion over the next 10.
What Mr. Ryan calls “probably the most cynical gimmick” deserves special attention, which is known in Washington as the “doc fix.” Next month Medicare physician payments are scheduled to be cut by 22% and deeper thereafter, though Congress is sure to postpone the reductions as it always does. Failing to account for this inevitability takes nearly a quarter-trillion dollars off the ObamaCare books and by itself wipes out the “savings” that the White House continues to take credit for.
President Obama’s health care plan doesn’t get close to being deficit neutral because he double counts Medicare cuts, first saying that they make Medicare solvent, then saying that they’ll be used to pay for a new entitlement. I’d say President a used car salesman gimmick for attempting this but I’m not certain that even they’d stoop to this level of deceit.
This paragraph is especially aggravating:
I have therefore asked leaders in both of Houses of Congress to finish their work and schedule a vote in the next few weeks. From now until then, I will do everything in my power to make the case for reform. And I urge every American who wants this reform to make their voice heard as well; every family, every business owner, every patient, every doctor, every nurse.
The American people have been telling President Obama and Speaker Pelosi’s Democratic minions that they don’t want this legislation. They’ve said that in the Virginia and Massachusetts elections. They’ve said that in townhall meetings in New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Texas.We’ve told pollsters across these 50 states that we’d rather do nothing than pass this legislation.
It isn’t that we haven’t spoken out. It’s that Washington hasn’t done what we’ve told them to do. This isn’t because they don’t get it either. It’s that President Obama is perfectly willing to go against the will of the American people for the sake of his legacy.
It’s got to stop. It’s time that We The People told Congress that they’d better stop this insanity or we’ll replace them each November until their disastrous legislation is repealed. PERIOD.
If President Obama can’t help himself, then we’ll help him remember that he works for us. We’ll help him remember that we’re not here to build his disastrous legacy.
Technorati Tags: Legacy, President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, Health Care, Townhalls, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Texas, New York, Elections, Massachusetts, Virginia, Polling, Democrats, Election 2010
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog