Now Imagine The Speech Obama Will Give to Push Health Care Reform

[DrFunkenstein]

Or saving the planet. You cannot deny that this man truly has a gift that will prove impossibly useful in pushing through tough reforms by creating a popular mandate. Creating an understanding of race is one of the toughest sells imaginable.

Now imagine what it'll be like when he tries to convince people to put pressure on Congress to get them the health care they deserve. I'd like to see them just try and stop him.

I'd love to see McCain run against him as the guy who wants to keep giving tax cuts to billionaires and keep letting the health care system crumble. Now that'll be a tough sell.

If nothing else, Obama today signaled three all-important words: bring it on!!!

Fired up!!

[jobycom]

1. That's when his speeches no longer matter.

Popular mandates don't mean squat when faced with an onslaught of insurance money. Clinton was eloquent, too, and he couldn't pass health care. It has absolutely nothing to do with speeches, and everything to do with experience and knowledge of how politics work.

He will propose his health care plans to Congress, make a pretty speech, maybe even get a good 90% approval rating on it--not likely, but possible, I guess. Then the insurance companies will go to work. They will find the most vulnerable congresscritters in swing districts. They will flood their airwaves with targeted commercials creating doubt about the complexity of the plan, the possible negative effects of the plan, the costs of the plan in the face of the horrendous debt this nation already faces. Meanwhile, the lobbyists will hit Capitol Hill and the national commercials will begin, chipping away at Obama's speech, his motivations. You remember how it went last time, don't you? "I'm with the president on health care reform, Libby. But I have questions about this plan."

By the time it comes to a vote Obama's words will be a distant memory, and if he tries another speech, it will be seen as more words, with much less impact, and people will have all those commercials and their doubts lingering in the back of their minds, and as soon as he stops speaking, the ads will start again. Corporations have bottomless pockets when it comes to saving their empires, and when control of the free world is at stake.

Maybe Obama will be surprising. Maybe he'll demonstrate an ability that he has never demonstrated at any level of his life to this point--an executive skill for the most complex job on the face of the planet. I'll hope for it, if he has to be our nominee. But if he succeeds, it won't have jack to do with his eloquence. That's useless the moment he steps away from the Supreme Court Justice and begins working. At that point, his speeches no longer matter, and it's all about whether he can run the gears and levers and switches and knobs of the most complex machine on the planet, without a manual. I've seen nothing in his history or his speeches or his actions to make me think he even has a shot at it. But his motto is hope, so I'll hope he doesn't fail.

[FrenchieCat]

2. I so disagree with you,

but don't feel like providing all of the reasons.

I'd have to write a book.

[jobycom]

3. Well, give it a shot, and I could write a more detailed book back.

[DrFunkenstein]

4. This Ain't 1993 And His Plan Goes Straight to The Matter of Cost

While making health care AFFORDABLE to everyone that wants it, Obama has history on his side. There has never been a stronger surge of support for health care reform in U.S. history.

While people may feel somewhat uneasy about race relations in America, they sure know that they want affordable health care.