September 8, 2009 in Nation/World

Obama says time for debate is over

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Associated Press photo

Audience members cheer as President Barack Obama speaks about health care reform at the AFL-CIO Labor Day picnic at Coney Island in Cincinnati on Monday.
(Full-size photo)

CINCINNATI – In a combative Labor Day speech, President Barack Obama said the health care debate had gone on too long and accused opponents of spreading “lies” meant to convince Americans that his proposed overhaul would cruelly deny care to the elderly.

The president, speaking at an AFL-CIO picnic, said that “special interests” were determined to “scare the heck out of people.”

“I’ve got a question for all these folks who say, you know, we’re going to pull the plug on Grandma and this is all about illegal immigrants – you’ve heard all the lies,” Obama said. “I’ve got a question for all those folks: What are you going to do? What’s your answer? What’s your solution? And you know what? They don’t have one.”

The president seemed eager to recapture some of the enthusiasm that propelled him during his campaign. A prolonged recession has sapped morale, he said, as have pundits who warn that “this isn’t working and that’s not working.”

The president also gave a preview of what he plans to tell the nation Wednesday in an address before a joint session of Congress.

He said he wants to curb rising premiums, bar insurance companies from denying coverage to sick people and create a new marketplace that would offer reasonably priced coverage.

But his overriding message in Cincinnati was that health care discussions needed to end. In making that case, he was rejecting a Republican suggestion that he “reset” health care negotiations and start anew.

Obama said “every debate at some point comes to an end. At some point, it’s time to decide. At some point, it’s time to act.”

Obama’s appearance before the union crowd was a delicate one. The White House has signaled that it is willing to compromise on the “public option” – a government-run program that would compete with private insurers – rather than let a health care bill that includes such a plan collapse. But labor officials have made clear that they don’t want the president to bargain away the public option.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney appeared on stage before Obama’s arrival and called for a “proud public option to bring down costs and keep the insurance companies honest.”

In his speech, Obama reiterated that he favors a public option, but stopped short of saying he would veto any health care bill that lacks one.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Three comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  Ninch on September 08 at 7:37 a.m.

  So Obama has decided that the time for debate is over. Who crowned him king? The debate just really started in August and Obama and his loyal Dems just will not listen or participate. Instead they name call and ignore reasonable suggestions like tort reform, ability to purchase health insurance across state lines like auto insurance, making the tax code fair to people who individually purchase insurance because now employer-provided insurance gets a huge tax break, and most importantly not cutting Medicare to pay for Obama’s program but fixing Medicare first.

  Another fact being ignored by Obama is that we need more health care providers as the population ages in addition to all those required for “preventative” health care. We cannot keep stealing trained nurses from the Philippines to make up for restricted nursing enrollment in the US… nor increase number of doctors by using federal grants only for American citizens instead of foreign born medical students as the Democrats have proposed. (Note: Same number of grants equals same number of doctors, and possibly more mediocre doctors because of less competition. Also note that it is the foreign born medical students who primarily become general practitioners and serve inner cities and rural areas… while American physicians tend to specialize to make bigger bucks…. which does not help serve all that mandated insurance-provided preventative care that Obama keeps promoting.)

  Obama and his Dems also want to make “public option” the main argument, because in fact the real debate should be over the idea that the Democrat-controlled federal government plans to MANDATE that Americans buy insurance, which will then be enforced by IRS penalties and draconian methods for collecting such (garnish your wages, empty your bank accounts, lien your home, sell your property). A much better idea would be to give ALL Americans an upfront voucher (not a tax credit) to purchase insurance which is paid for by eliminating the special tax break for employer-provided insurance (another GOP workable idea). Bottom line is that Obama is the one who has NO reasonable solutions and apparently no new speech material. Same old song and dance. Same old blame game.

  BTW: Obama is the biggest liar of all about almost everything to do with his health “insurance” reform… and has yet to explain in detail how cutting over $500 billion out of Medicare as more baby boomers enter the system does not restrict health care for the elderly. The numbers do not add up to his promises… which he has broken many since taking office.

• 

  IHike4Fun on September 08 at 9:28 a.m.

  There are 3 ploys that I’ve noticed he likes to use when faced with uncomfortable questions.

  1. It’s a distraction (we heard that a lot during the campaign).
  2. It’s silly (most recently used with the opposition to the discussion in classrooms following his address being scripted by the White house).
  3. The time for questions/debate is over. (used here and elsewhere). This presupposes that there is a crisis so severe that something has to be done immediately or dire consequences will follow. This is, of course, false.

  The truth is Medicare is a roaring failure and expanding it to Obamacare will just compound the problem many times over.

  You really have to ask yourself, if Obamacare is such a good thing, why none of congress will be signing up for it. It’s because they have a better option with their private (tax payer paid for) health insurance. It’s like Social Security. Why have no members of congress ever participated in it? Because they have a better option. Social Security and Obamacare are only for you and me, not for people who are in government.

• 

  letsallgetalong on September 09 at 11:30 a.m.

  Great point by “IHike4Fun” Very insightful.
  This blog post adds to “IHike4Fun” comments by showing that Our Seniors have a right to fear “reform” as they are already living with Government Healthcare, “Medicare” http://www.myhealthinsurancewa.com/washington-health-insurance/2009_08_01_archive.html