Obama has the momentum.
For quite some time, President Obama’s passionate haters tried as hard as they could, organized as many fake volunteers as possible, and spent all the money they had to make sure his agenda would fail. When the Obama Administration labored to pass the 787 billion dollar recovery bill, several of the Obama haters used outlandish claims against the President to stop the US recovery, declaring it a failure from the moment of its inception, well into its undeniable success. They failed, he succeeded. The Dow has cleared 10,000 for the first time in months, unemployment has shrunk in several states, and by all accounts, the recession has been halted in its tracks.
When a Supreme Court seat opened, Obama nominated (now Supreme Court Justice) Sonia Sotomayor, and she was immediately scorned by the far-right, accused of being a racist militant and all of that adorable conservative mish-mash.
Well, we know how that turned out.
Fast-forward to today, after over 4 months of hard-fought health care reform debate, and after a summer of screaming and conservative fake-revolution, we are right back where we started from. President Obama and the Democrats are on track to pass meaningful health care reform with some sort of a public option. Despite all the calls that Obama had failed on health care and that the public option was dead, the past has repeated itself once more.
ABC News reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) “is leaning toward including the creation of a new government-run insurance program — the so-called public option — in the health care reform bill he will bring to the full Senate in the coming weeks.”
After meeting with Democratic moderates, Reid “has concluded he can pass a bill with a public option.”
Though some are still opposed the idea, Reid “is now convinced that Democratic critics of the public option will support him when it counts — on the procedural motion, which requires 60 votes, to defeat a certain GOP-led filibuster of the bill. Once the filibuster is beaten, it only takes 51 votes to pass the bill.”
“Democratic critics of the public option would get a chance to go on-the-record with their opposition by voting for an amendment to strip it from the health care bill. Under Senate rules, such an amendment would need 60 votes to pass. And while there may not be 60 votes in favor of a public option, there are also not 60 votes against it. So, it would remain in the bill.”
So many times, the Obama administration has been questioned for its toughness and ability to get things done, and every time they have come through. They are closer than anyone has ever been since Teddy Roosevelt tried to reform health care, and they are on track to succeed.
When it comes to health care reform, the real debate has ended. The Congressional Budget Office found the Senate Finance Committee’s version of health care (which is by far the most conservative) would make coverage affordable for millions now without it, “without adding a dime to our deficits,” said Obama in his weekly radio address. A bill with a public option would cut costs even more, keep the insurance companies honest, and expand coverage to over 95% of Americans.
As the President has said (confirmed by the CBO),
“It will provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance. It will provide insurance to those who don’t. And it will lower the cost of health care for our families, our businesses, and our government.”
To find out exactly what Health Care Reform means, go to this link.
Bottom line: Health care reform will pass and the Republican Party has been handed another stinging defeat (they should be used it by now). Most importantly, Barack Obama will be doing exactly what he campaigned on: changing America to renew the American dream, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.
Now if only we knew what the hell to do with Afghanistan.
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