Grading Obama’s Healthcare Speech

Debunker Hill’s Grade for Obama’s Speech:

Cole: B-  What I wanted to hear, I didn’t hear. I’m also affected by his mishandling of this whole thing. If you were to sit me down 50 years from now and ask me to grade it just as a speech, I’d probably give it a higher grade, like an A-.

ChrisM: I give it a B+. While it was a good speech, I agree with Cole that it is hard to separate the speech from the lack of leadership that came before it. I am also tired of Obama’s continual attempts to be bipartisan with those unwilling to meet him even one-third of the way. Obama, republicans are NOT your friends!

___________________________________________________

Overall, we at Debunker Hill feel it was a decent speech but it was months later than it should have been. What took Obama so long to come out with the specifics of the kind of plan he wanted to see? Why were we left puzzled by the contradictory statements of his employees? The following are some highlights from his speech (full text and video here):

• Maintain the existing employer-based system of health insurance
• Make it illegal to deny coverage for a pre-existing condition
• Make it illegal to set annual or lifetime caps
• Set a limit on maximum out-of-pocket expenses
• Do not allow insurers to drop coverage or raise rates for people who are ill or have high costs
• Create an insurance co-op that lets the uninsured by into either a private or public plan
• Mandate employer insurance coverage
• Mandate that individuals who can afford it purchase insurance
• Give tax breaks to small businesses that provide health insurance
• Provide reduced cost or free coverage to the poor
• Require coverage for mammograms and colorectal cancer screenings
• Implement the plan in 4 years
• Create an immediate low-cost catastrophic pool for the uninsured to buy into
• Implement tort reform

He also said health reform would NOT include the following:

• Government takeover of healthcare
• Insurance or government bureaucrats between you and your doctor
• NO DEATH PANELS (which he called a LIE–take that, Sarah Palin)
• No cuts to Medicare
• No adding to the deficit
• No coverage for abortions
• No coverage for illegal immigrants

Republican Joe Wilson calls Obama a liar.

When he mentioned there would be no coverage for illegal immigrants, republican Joe Wilson from South Carolina committed an egregious breach of protocol and yelled, “You lie!” Following the speech, republican John McCain told CNN, the remark was “totally disrespectful” and said Wilson should ”apologize immediately.” Apparently Karl Rove and Neil Cavuto over at Fox thought it was a jocular moment, with Rove calling Wilson “a great guy.”

President Obama said the plan would be paid for by payments going in, by contributions from different organizations, and by cost controls that would lower the cost of health care to taxpayers. To those complaining about adding to the deficit, he said his plan would cost (1) less than the amounts spend on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and (2) less than the amount of the Bush-era tax cuts that most republicans supported.

He also called for an honest debate and said he would start calling people out who were spreading lies and trying to scare people.

Republicans kept waving some paper at the president (later identified as their health care proposals) and often refused to join in the applause or ovations, especially when he chastised those fearmongering about death panels and invoked the costs of the previous tax cuts. It was particularly interesting that they refused to stand when he discussed Medicare; clearly their support for Medicare expressed via Michael Steele is nothing but hype. You could see by the republicans’ grim faces they remain determined to oppose any real healthcare reform and have no intent on cooperating. Senator Diane Feinstein, a democrat from California who has expressed opposition for the public option (and collects a lot of dough from the healthcare industry) also kept a poker face for much of the speech.

President Obama emphasized the need for compromise on both sides; he suggested the public option is a compromise for those on the left who want single-payer care. He also reminded Congress, via a letter from the late Senator Edward Kennedy to be read after his death, that they work for the people, not for themselves.

The republican response was delivered by Representative Charles Boustany of Louisiana, who I assume republicans selected because he was once a cardiac surgeon (only sued for malpractice 3 times) and not because he once fell victim to a fraud scheme in an attempt to acquire the British title “Lord.” I guess Boustany does not like the idea our founding fathers had to do away with hereditary titles. Then again, if you buy the title, it is not really hereditary. Boustany has also expressed support for the birthers’ causes, but I guess that was not why he was selected, either. Boustany clearly drafted his speech prior to hearing Obama’s, but he nonetheless dished out criticisms of the “president’s plan” and said he opposed “government takeover of healthcare.”

Recommendation to republicans: Stop trying to follow Obama’s speeches with your own. It is like a cover band coming onstage to play after U2. It makes you look even worse than you are.

I am glad Obama finally stepped up to the plate on this, but I am worried that too much damage has been done in this long, hostile Congressional recess to be undone.

Comments are closed.