Analysis: Obama speech to Congress unlikely to be game changer
Published: 2009-09-28 22:04:53
Author: Sam Youngman and Bob Cusack | The Hill | September 10, 2009
The big question of the night was how Obama was going to address the public health insurance option, but he largely repeated what he has said for weeks: He supports it, but will sign a bill that does not have it.
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) helped the president's case that some Republicans are playing politics with healthcare by yelling "you lie" during Obama's remarks, a maneuver that was decried by Republicans -- including Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) -- as inappropriate.
Wilson subsequently apologized.
Still, while the speech once again illustrated the president’s extraordinary oratory skills, it was not a game changer and appears to leave the president with the same quandary: Healthcare has become the pinnacle legislative issue of his first term, but has divided his party in Congress and run into almost universal GOP opposition. Polls suggest Americans are not convinced reform will help their lives and it is unclear whether the legislation Obama seeks will reach his desk.
Obama was expected to take the wheel on healthcare reform after the Democratic-led Congress drove it into a ditch over the summer, but it did not appear he did so.
As he as done throughout 2009, Obama is largely deferring to lawmakers on the details. His address drew laughs from Republicans when he said some details still needed to be worked out.
A Democratic strategist said, "The speech was good, but not transforming," adding the address "won't move votes or change what [Obama] called unresolved issues."
Obama urged Congress to stop bickering, something it is very good at. And he also asked lawmakers to cut entitlement programs, something that Congress is not very good at.
The president stressed that the cuts from the existing healthcare system will not hamper quality of care, but Congress has been seeking to reduce Medicare and Medicaid fraud and abuse for decades. Many of those efforts have failed because cutting entitlement programs in the name of fraud has run up against fierce lobbying efforts from industry groups. The last time Congress made wide-ranging healthcare cuts was a dozen years ago in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.
Full story
Published: 2009-09-28 22:04:53
Author: Sam Youngman and Bob Cusack | The Hill | September 10, 2009
President Barack Obama’s address to Congress on healthcare reform
was short on specifics and long on ideas he and his advisers had
already floated this year.
The big question of the night was how Obama was going to address the public health insurance option, but he largely repeated what he has said for weeks: He supports it, but will sign a bill that does not have it.
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) helped the president's case that some Republicans are playing politics with healthcare by yelling "you lie" during Obama's remarks, a maneuver that was decried by Republicans -- including Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) -- as inappropriate.
Wilson subsequently apologized.
Still, while the speech once again illustrated the president’s extraordinary oratory skills, it was not a game changer and appears to leave the president with the same quandary: Healthcare has become the pinnacle legislative issue of his first term, but has divided his party in Congress and run into almost universal GOP opposition. Polls suggest Americans are not convinced reform will help their lives and it is unclear whether the legislation Obama seeks will reach his desk.
Obama was expected to take the wheel on healthcare reform after the Democratic-led Congress drove it into a ditch over the summer, but it did not appear he did so.
As he as done throughout 2009, Obama is largely deferring to lawmakers on the details. His address drew laughs from Republicans when he said some details still needed to be worked out.
A Democratic strategist said, "The speech was good, but not transforming," adding the address "won't move votes or change what [Obama] called unresolved issues."
Obama urged Congress to stop bickering, something it is very good at. And he also asked lawmakers to cut entitlement programs, something that Congress is not very good at.
The president stressed that the cuts from the existing healthcare system will not hamper quality of care, but Congress has been seeking to reduce Medicare and Medicaid fraud and abuse for decades. Many of those efforts have failed because cutting entitlement programs in the name of fraud has run up against fierce lobbying efforts from industry groups. The last time Congress made wide-ranging healthcare cuts was a dozen years ago in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.
Full story