Obama Defends Health Bill Against Attacks From Left

[babsbunny]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121783002

December 23, 2009

President Obama hit back at critics within his own party over the landmark health care overhaul packages moving through Congress during an interview with NPR's All Things Considered.

"This notion I know among some on the left that somehow this bill is not everything that it should be ... I think just ignores the real human reality that this will help millions of people and end up being the most significant piece of domestic legislation at least since Medicare and maybe since Social Security," Obama told NPR's Robert Siegel and Julie Rovner.

[NJmaverick]

1. If you had told me a year ago I would be seeing this headline

I would have told you that you were crazy. How low the left has sunk

[T Wolf]

2. Or - how far from the liberal some thought Obama was he has proven to be. Now, whether

you consider that he has "sunk" to the right or merely is reinforcing his center-right bona fides is something for you to decide.

Some of us would consider that "sinking."

[NJmaverick]

8. Yeah making sure the uninsured gets insurance is just so conservative

[Armstead]

9. Forcinmg everyone to buy a private product is a conservative dream

The Milton Friedman conservatism that so-called Centrists put so much blind faith in have done so well up in keeping healthcare coverage affordable haven't they?

[NJmaverick]

12. and while that sounds so nice on the surface

when you apply a little critical thinking and you start to see:


People in need are given health care, rather than left on the side of the street to die. So if they buy or not they get health care.

You aslo realize that using an ER as a doctor's office is an expensive and inefficient way of providing care. You also realize that with insurance people will see a doctor regularly and will get treated for the high blood pressure rather than being taken care of after they have a stroke or a heart attack.

You also appreciate that medical costs are starting to bankrupt our nation.


So a liberal looks and thinks the best solution would be universal free coverage. They see that can't get passed to they appreciate that while it will leave them vulnerable to simplistic slogans, mandatory insurance with proper subsidies and exemptions is really the only way to go.

[Armstead]

15. You might start by understanding the positions involved

Nobody -- NOBODY -- has ever advocated "universal free coverage." That is a mischaracterization of the liberal position right there.

Your lack of comprehension of the basic starting point indicates how cartoonlike your view of this disagreement is.

[bluethruandthru]

20. Universal single payer healthcare is not "free".

You might want to read up on it at pnhcp.org

And..by saying the "mandatory insurance with proper subsidies and exemptions is really the only way to go" is mind boggling! You're really in favor of forcing everyone in this country to buy insurance from private companies that take 30 percent off the top for profits??? Those who can't afford the sky-high premiums get subsidies (your tax dollars and mine)..that will go directly into the pockets of the big insurance companies. And then what makes you think the poor, that now have this wonderful subsidized policy will be able to use it? Will they be able to afford the deductibles and co-pays? Those aren't going away, you know.

Saying people will now have "insurance" doesn't mean they will now have "healthcare".

[CTLawGuy]

22. yes, it's a conservative's dream, that's why

all the republicans were against it....

[niceypoo]

34. Republicans are automatically against anything Obama does

Whether they agree with it or not, but you already know this.

[Lerkfish]

4. the left am the enemy of the people

[NJmaverick]

7. The left abandoned the people in favor of going after corporations

[Armstead]

10. Maybe that;'s because corporate powerer and abuses is what is screwing people

There should be a healthy balance. We have gone too far in the direction of empowering corporations and allowing them siphon wealth upward and run roughshod over the last 30 years.

Balance yes. Unrestrained unregulated corporate power no.

[NJmaverick]

13. I used to hear a similar scape goating from the right

only they would blame people on welfare.

[Armstead]

14. I'm waiting for you to start blaming peope on welfare

Would be consistent with your own conservative ideology.

[Lerkfish]

17. can you show in any way that the left has influenced this legislation?

in any direction at all?

[goclark]

18. Maybe they gave more power to the Republicans?

:shrug: just thinking

[Lerkfish]

19. how? in what way?

the only democrats who were obstructionist were the blue dog democrats, and one independent, in order to push the bill rightward. What did the left do again?

back up your accusations with facts, ok?

[goclark]

25. The Republicans wanted to Kill the Bill

as well.

[Lerkfish]

32. so, in your flawed logic

that means the left had influence? Or that they gave power to the right?

[Moochy]

21. ROFL @ NJMaverick, defender of the downtrodden and beleagured corporation

The Progressives are being so mean to the corporations!!!111

[freddie mertz]

23. Obama lied to us.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x416707

[shadesofgray]

27. What a crock. The left is where it's ALWAYS been. Obama is the one who's sunk.

[AndyA]

3. The bottom line: No one is helped more by this "reform" than the insurance companies.

The ones who were already making a fortune on "health care" in this country.

They are about to get millions of new customers, all forced to pay premiums. No cost controls in place, nothing to guarantee competition (anti-trust DOA).

We'll see what's in the final version, but this is a huge hand out to corporate America as it stands now. (Again.)

[girl gone mad]

5. If I really believed it would help millions of people, I would be for it.

Unfortunately, I believe that the bill cleared by the Senate does more net harm than good.

[Armstead]

6. Why did they not just "help" millions of peolpe without putting us all into Corporate Bondage?

This is more in line with such great centrist "achievements" as bank deregulation, broadcast deregulation, NAFTA, etc.

[Clio the Leo]

11. Mind boggling that some on the far left now march hand in hand....

.... with those on the far right in their effort to deny affordable health care to the less fortunate.

(see, I can do hyperbole too!)

[Armstead]

16. And you do it so well -- hyperbiolie, that is

Sorry, couldn't resist.


:)

[niceypoo]

24. So, the far right wants a stronger bill?

Really?

[Clio the Leo]

28. And everyone on the left still wants a bill?

Really?

[Mass]

30. Yes, a bill, not any bill.

I disagree with those who want to stop and restart because it is not realistic. However, if I though it was, I would definitively be on that side. This bill is sadly lacking on so many plans, and hearing the president denying this is very sad.

[niceypoo]

31. You are attempting to equate opposites

Progressives want a stronger bill. Teabaggers want no bill.

Progressive opposition to the rightwing march of the healthcare legislation was a wakeup call to both Obama and the Congress. It is a necessity if we want a bill that has any teeth. Attempting to vilify those who hold Obama's and the Congressional feet to the fire as 'allies' of teabaggers is both slimy and intellectually dishonest.

Shilling never foments necessary change.

[shadesofgray]

26. I'll never understand why Obama is shitting on the very people who got him elected.

Hope he's happy with all the conservative votes he's going to be getting now. Oh wait....

[Mass]

29. Why cant he just say that this is not all he wanted, but it is the best he could get. That at least

would be honest (I hope, at least).

May be he could spend a little less time attacking the Left and a little bit more talking about those dems who oppose something a majority of people in the country support.

[harun]

35. +1

[Milo_Bloom]

33. The bill ONLY helps insurance companies.

Health CARE is not a part of this bill.