The White House released excerpts from President Obama's evening address to a joint session of congress. They are... pretty much what you would expect.
You know, like an op-ed. Though none of the bits where he'll call out uninsured people in the audience or whatever were included.
The power of the president's bully pulpit is usually grossly overstated. It is, after all, the job of Congress to make laws, and of the President to enforce them. But decades of expanding executive power and the post-civil rights polarization of the political parties and the complete utter piece of garbage joke the Senate has become along with, yes, the convenient-for-media-narratives idea of The President as the Guy In Charge Of the Government have all conspried to make everyone think that what Obama needs to do to get serious is Make a Speech Before Congress. So Obama will sell congress on a bill congress is itself writing. The real point is, now that August is done and Labor Day is behind us, to try to fight back against the last month of lies and scare tactics and get the debate back to something resembling reality.
I am not the first President to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last. It has now been nearly a century since Theodore Roosevelt first called for health care reform. And ever since, nearly every President and Congress, whether Democrat or Republican, has attempted to meet this challenge in some way. A bill for comprehensive health reform was first introduced by John Dingell Sr. in 1943. Sixty-five years later, his son continues to introduce that same bill at the beginning of each session.
Yes. It's socialist national health insurance! It would be a wonderful idea! But that is not what Obama is actually selling. He explains what he is actually selling: a series of insurance reforms and subsidies for the uninsured to purchase insurance.
Also he is mad at you, Sarah Palin!
But know this: I will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it's better politics to kill this plan than improve it. I will not stand by while the special interests use the same old tactics to keep things exactly the way they are. If you misrepresent what's in the plan, we will call you out. And I will not accept the status quo as a solution. Not this time. Not now.
The excerpts released do not suggest a very stirring or inspiring speech. But all it really has to go is make everyone get briefly serious again, for a minute. We'll see how it does in that respect, oh, tomorrow morning.
[Photo: AP]
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