KP Week-End: Healthcare Reform (An Update)
The healthcare debate in the U.S. raged on this past week. I did a write-up on it earlier in KP's sister site, Outsider Views. I found disturbing developments this week when "Bull Dog" Democrats walked out of a meeting in the House. I also was disappointed that Orin Hatch walked away from Negotations in the Senate as well. It appears that the U.S. Senate could not figure out how to make a bill happen. The U.S. Senate HELP committee did pass a bill. But, as Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC & Huffpost noted in a commentary on MSNBC's Countdown, it won't go anywhere.
What is sad and pathetic in this whole exercise is that while such manuvering was going in Washington, this past week saw close to an estimated 70,000 people lose their healthcare coverage. Insurance companies and hospitals will continue to wield enormous power while the people of "main street" continue to suffer and wonder what will happen when they get sick. Although politics is truly about the art of the possible, when will U.S. Senators truly wake up and realize how dire the situation is for the ordinary folks on the street?
The political nature of the debate is sad. The Republicans are hell bent on insuring that the President fails so that they can be regarded as the "White Knights". Mitch McConnell is one of the reasonable ones. But, Mr. McConnell is the same guy who notes that this should not be "rushed". It seems to me that he ought to be championing such a cause coming from such a poor state such as Kentucky. Does he not realize what is going on? Has he truly listened to the President:
The Republicans talk about lowering taxes. Healthcare is a regressive tax that is right now killing business. So, I can't understand Jim DeMint when he noted that this is the President's Waterloo. It shows the partisan nature of it all and the fact that the Republicans would rather score a political point than do the people's business. They just did not figure on going on against Rahm Emanuel, the White House Chief of Staff.
I extend a Virtual High Five to Mr. Emanuel for having noted how honest the Republicans are, because they showed their true colors. The President noted that it is not about him. The Republicans seem to want to make it so. They do so at their own peril.
The people want this change. It will happen. It just appears that it will take just a bit longer.
What is sad and pathetic in this whole exercise is that while such manuvering was going in Washington, this past week saw close to an estimated 70,000 people lose their healthcare coverage. Insurance companies and hospitals will continue to wield enormous power while the people of "main street" continue to suffer and wonder what will happen when they get sick. Although politics is truly about the art of the possible, when will U.S. Senators truly wake up and realize how dire the situation is for the ordinary folks on the street?
The political nature of the debate is sad. The Republicans are hell bent on insuring that the President fails so that they can be regarded as the "White Knights". Mitch McConnell is one of the reasonable ones. But, Mr. McConnell is the same guy who notes that this should not be "rushed". It seems to me that he ought to be championing such a cause coming from such a poor state such as Kentucky. Does he not realize what is going on? Has he truly listened to the President:
The Republicans talk about lowering taxes. Healthcare is a regressive tax that is right now killing business. So, I can't understand Jim DeMint when he noted that this is the President's Waterloo. It shows the partisan nature of it all and the fact that the Republicans would rather score a political point than do the people's business. They just did not figure on going on against Rahm Emanuel, the White House Chief of Staff.
I extend a Virtual High Five to Mr. Emanuel for having noted how honest the Republicans are, because they showed their true colors. The President noted that it is not about him. The Republicans seem to want to make it so. They do so at their own peril.
The people want this change. It will happen. It just appears that it will take just a bit longer.
Mike Pouraryan
