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I have mentioned before my total disdain for obstructionism, the political belief that if you stop the other party from doing anything worthwhile that your party will look better in comparison and thus have a chance of being voted in come next election. It's in the Negative Politics playbook, right there next to negative ad campaigns, and I don't care for it at all.
Right now, the overwhelming majority of Americans believe that health care needs to be reformed. That the system, as it stands, isn't really working and needs to be changed.
Now, I am somewhat naive as to how it is we came to have five separate health care reform bills, but what *IS* clear is that we did, and that to move forward in the process, everyone was waiting for the reform bill from the Finance Committee. Senator Max Baucus really worked hard to try to craft an actual bipartisan bill. Everyone in the Finance Committee has said so, that Mr. Baucus really tried his best to bring everyone into a room and come up with something that everyone could agree with, but he met a wall, the wall of Obstructionism.
To be perfectly frank, I've not heard much constructive anything out of the Republican Party since President Obama became president in January. If you listen to the Republican Party speak, they don't talk about their own brilliant ideas, how THEY have a plan that can fix the Health Care System AND Not blow up the federal deficit. All I hear is how the Liberals will tax and spend, bring up the deficit and stick the government's nose where it doesn't belong.
In short, it's more negative politics. I know they have at LEAST one bill they've written, so it's interesting that they never discuss the merits of it, how it would work, etc. It makes me question what precisely is in the bill and whether or not it actually reforms Health Care or not.
The most Ironic moment of watching the vote from the finance committee last night was watching Senator Chuck Grassley get up and try to explain how a vote against the bill was not a vote for Status Quo. It was pure bull poop and I swear I saw Grassley's nose grow even as he spoke. Grassley has been an obstructionist from the start. He did not work with Max Baucus to find a bill everyone could agree on. He's not happy with the bill that's crafted now and he knows that had that bill not passed, Health Care Reform would have been forced to wait until such time as Baucus found a bill that COULD pass. Mr. Grassley, your vote against the Baucus Bill WAS a vote for the status quo, it was a vote against change, against much-needed reformm. You may be covering your butt as far as your electorate is concerned, but I, for one, do not buy it.
Right now, the overwhelming majority of Americans believe that health care needs to be reformed. That the system, as it stands, isn't really working and needs to be changed.
Now, I am somewhat naive as to how it is we came to have five separate health care reform bills, but what *IS* clear is that we did, and that to move forward in the process, everyone was waiting for the reform bill from the Finance Committee. Senator Max Baucus really worked hard to try to craft an actual bipartisan bill. Everyone in the Finance Committee has said so, that Mr. Baucus really tried his best to bring everyone into a room and come up with something that everyone could agree with, but he met a wall, the wall of Obstructionism.
To be perfectly frank, I've not heard much constructive anything out of the Republican Party since President Obama became president in January. If you listen to the Republican Party speak, they don't talk about their own brilliant ideas, how THEY have a plan that can fix the Health Care System AND Not blow up the federal deficit. All I hear is how the Liberals will tax and spend, bring up the deficit and stick the government's nose where it doesn't belong.
In short, it's more negative politics. I know they have at LEAST one bill they've written, so it's interesting that they never discuss the merits of it, how it would work, etc. It makes me question what precisely is in the bill and whether or not it actually reforms Health Care or not.
The most Ironic moment of watching the vote from the finance committee last night was watching Senator Chuck Grassley get up and try to explain how a vote against the bill was not a vote for Status Quo. It was pure bull poop and I swear I saw Grassley's nose grow even as he spoke. Grassley has been an obstructionist from the start. He did not work with Max Baucus to find a bill everyone could agree on. He's not happy with the bill that's crafted now and he knows that had that bill not passed, Health Care Reform would have been forced to wait until such time as Baucus found a bill that COULD pass. Mr. Grassley, your vote against the Baucus Bill WAS a vote for the status quo, it was a vote against change, against much-needed reformm. You may be covering your butt as far as your electorate is concerned, but I, for one, do not buy it.
