He’s good at this. He’s confident and straightforward. I think it’s a very good thing to do. The real frustration in Vermont, and around America, is over the process. The hope is that this jump starts the discussion. This day has the potential to get the American people re-involved.
The health care bill the president is talking about is a private, not public option. It has several other ideas that are important to Republicans. There’s room there to find agreement and move ahead.
If today ends up being another kabuki dance of avoidance then America is going to have to forge ahead. My hope from the beginning is that we have a bipartisan bill.
Nobody with commonsense in America thinks we can pass a bill that will make everything perfect. If Republicans are going to use these arcane Senate rules to defy a vote on the merits, that’s very disrespectful to the America.
There are many reasons the Republican Party is often referred to as the Stupid Party. Many Republicans thought that after the President overshadowed the GOP at their Baltimore retreat last month, going to Blair House yesterday would just be another PR disaster.
It was anything but.
The GOP won the day so convincingly that even the traditional media had to praise the party for talking issues.
Contrast that with Barack Obama who scowled, berated, lied, and harassed the attendees — not to mention filibustered them.
In the most ironic moment of the day, Barack Obama lectured Virginia Congressman Eric Cantor on having the Democrats’ 2,700+ page health care bill on his desk at the meeting. Obama called it a “prop.” At the same time, Democrats were in the newspapers admitting that, in effect, Barack Obama was using the GOP as a prop in a vain effort to show bipartisanship on health care.
There is bipartisanship on health care. There is bipartisan opposition to it. The Democrats must realize today that they would get nothing out of the meeting. They will now try to force health care deform through Congress on a majority vote in each house.
Only a couple of years ago, Barack Obama praised the filibuster claiming it was what the founding fathers wanted to prevent the tyranny of the majority. Now he is intent on ignoring the filibuster and ramming through health care deform.
If nothing else, today shows the American public that the Republicans have a better agenda, better ideas, and are willing to stand up and oppose a reckless scheme that will increase health care costs.
n people.
