In a move to build support from the ground up, Democrats are going on an 11-city bus tour with the hopes of rallying support for health care reform.
I don’t know about everyone else, but just the discussion of health care alone has gotten me burned out, and slightly overwhelmed by the complexity of issues and divergent positions within this debate. Mostly though, I am getting burned out by following the politicking of both sides in this debate.
This 11-city tour by the democrats is a good move, because it may be the right things at the right time. Because voters are increasingly disapproving of how Obama’s Administration is handling this reform, I think the democrats are looking for a way to reinvent their position and reinvigorate the passions of its supporters. You know, kind of like how Britney Spears tried to have a comeback performance on MTV after her “dark and misguided period”. Her performance was subpar at best, so hopefully the democratic push here will renew the faith of its base, and when a few converts to the cause of health care reform catalyzed by the government.
I read a satirical piece the other day, pointing out the absurdity of the argument that when the government “socializes” something or “meddles” that the only result can be one of inefficiency and poor performance. Reasonably, I know that one cannot claim that health care reform the way it is proposed by Obama and other liberal democrats is 100% guaranteed to reduce costs, increase access, without penalizing or adversely affecting other groups. But I think there is enough evidence to believe it is reasonable if we are concerned about the people hurting from high and unfair health costs and lack of access. As much as Americans have come to distrust the government since the Vietnam War, government intervention is not always a dangerous endgame.
If Democrats are trying to convey anything on this tour, however, it should be that Obama has a solid plan in mind, and is moving forward only if some baseline provisions are included in the reform legislation – for instance, maybe a public option. I think that his falling approval rating is a result of being seemingly ambiguous on exactly what provisions are a necessity from his standpoint. If the deadlock continues without clear indications of what is the bottom line for Americans on this health care debate, then Republicans & modern/conservative Democrats who are against the legislation in its current form won’t even have to mount a PR campaign against it, because the bill will succumb to the greatest enemy that exists in the world, that everyone and thing is aware of, even if we take it for granted:
Time.
Its time for change, and not stagnation.
Contributor, Young Writer’s Block
Contributor, The Carmon Report
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