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Grasping the Reins
By William Finucane
Finally President
Barak Obama has grasped his presidency. He did it with two speeches. First he
gave speech to school children in early September, then he delivered a rare
address before both houses of the legislature, the Senate and the House of
Representatives, on national health insurance. What he did in those two speeches
was to show he can keep politics out of government when necessary yet also sees
clearly where politics must be used liberally.
Before giving his
school address, Republicans complained Obama would use the opportunity to press
the Democratic case among impressionable youth. Parents, politicians and school
officials – at least Republican ones – warned of Obama’s school speech. Many
schools refused to show the speech, as though somehow a president of the United
States was about to subvert the nation’s youth by talking about national
politics. How that could be detrimental in a participatory democracy was
apparently left to the imaginations of partisan Republicans.
But when the
speech was delivered, it was not a partisan or political oration or even a
discussion of politics in general. Instead, Obama urged students to continue in
school. He spoke as a caring adult, not a Democrat; it was not a campaign speech
at all. Perhaps the GOP leaders were thinking of what they might have done in
his place, which then prompted them to react as though somehow schoolchildren
were about to be propagandized with Democratic Party values.
On the health
insurance front, though, Obama was very political; not so much a Democrat but as
the spokesman for American medical consumers. After trying to bring Republicans
into the health insurance debate without success throughout the summer, Obama
declared the time has come to enact health legislation without playing any
further games. Republicans can join and make it more workable, but he quietly
warned that those seeking to completely block reform of health insurance will be
crushed.
There it is: plain
politics. No sugary phrases, just the facts. Democrats have the numbers and they
will look to win this monumental battle. It is monumental, this fight. If
Democrats win, they will give the American people some degree of control over
insurance. If the Republicans win, they will keep the money and influence of
insurers within Republican bounds, where they have been since post-Civil War
America.
Obama has thrown
down the gauntlet, telling Republicans he is going to pass some form of health
insurance. This is a whole new Obama. Obama has laid his presidency on the table
and pledged to accomplish something.
Of course this is
just the opposite of recent Republican presidents whose main goal is to win a
second term, period. The GOP often tries but it cannot wholly escape the fact
its members most often seek public office to make it easier for the business
communities, large and small.
Health insurance
is of course a monumental cash generator. The insurance has a very small
relationship with people’s health. Insurance offices are money generators, not
health promoters. People fighting against revisions to health insurance are not
opposing better health care: they are simply trying to keep the current system
because it is so lucrative for the insurance companies and related industries,
whose lobbyists reward them well for their efforts. Keeping huge profits in
insurers’ pockets is the object for the Republicans. It seems heartless of the
insurers; it is.
That is what is
Obama is fighting now – corporate profit. If he wins, every American can get
health care, and if there is a public option then every American benefits
because the industry will no longer be a closed loop, where prices can be set
and fixed.
It is so simple as
to be unassailable; how could anyone oppose it?
There are lots of
arguments from insurers here, but they are all smokescreens, As the Democrats
have penetrated the haze and opened the nation’s windows to air out the smoke,
the screams of opposition have become louder.
“Lie! You lie,”
yelled South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson from the floor as Obama delivered his
speech before the Senate and House of Representatives. He later apologized, and
Obama accepted the apology. But the damage was done. Arizona Sen. John McCain,
who Obama defeated in 2008, condemned the heckling outburst and others agreed
with McCain. This was a slap in Obama’s face, but he did not let it throw him,
he simply went ahead with his speech. There will be other more subtle attacks as
debate unfold. If Obama realizes his national leadership role, he can win this
and other internecine wars for the American people, who if told the truth will
always side with common sense.
He is president
and now he is acting like it.
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