Thursday (post speech)

Thursday September 10, 2009

. . . . . .Good morning! or good day, or good afternoon, or good evening. (Shades of The Truman Show)

. . . . . Playlist hasn't changed much. I'm still in post-Katrina anniversary New Orleans mode, my adopted 2nd home. It will change tomorrow on the anniversary of 9/11. If you're reading this in the Facebook note, you can jump to the external site The Desolation Angel - An Idiot's Ravings at The Ragged Edge of the American Century, and turn your speakers up, you'll get the podcast, the music, and my audio commentary.

. . . . On the culture front, a couple of items of note (and no, it doesn't have to do with Ellen Degeneres being named as Paula Abdul's replacement on Idol.) The list of honorees for the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts awards was release, and there are two on there that deserve it and excite me; Bruce Springsteen and Robert DeNiro. While we're talking about acting, I will definitely get to New York this fall; Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig are in rehearsal right now for A Steady Rain, a two man drama about a pair of Chicago cops. For both, their initial background is in live theater, and they should be excellent.

. . . . .No, I didn't jump on the computer right away after the speech last night, there were a bazillion folks who did that. I needed to listen to the speech, read the text, read the bill from the White House, read the first framework the bill coming out of the Senate Finance Committee and Max Baucus's and the "Gang of 6", listen to the Republican response to the address and catch the pundit's, political analyst's and media reaction over the last 12 hours. It's not really that hard to do.

. . . . .Let me say this right off the bat, last night was a turning point for this Presidency, as well it was a turning point for the absolute lunacy and level of insanity that the month of August reduced this country's political discourse to, and went a long way towards exposing the levels that some people in the Beltway have lowered themselves to whilst worshipping at the altar of patisanship at the expense of letting the ship that is this Republic founder.

. . . .Let me also say that one media outlet's refusal to cover the speech went leagues towards exposing them as the house organ of tearing this Republic apart and destroying it; and one party's insistence on equal time to respond exposed that party's complete hypocrisy in essentially demanding an application of The Fairness Doctrine, while publicly decrying it.

. . . . .Up first. . . .Republican Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina, who absolutely is now the poster child and face of the New post-2008 Republican Party, and his outburst on the House floor during the speech of "You lie!".

. . . . .Let's get this out the way first, in framework and in perspective. It is not a First Amendment rights or Freedom of Speech issue; not in even the most minor or most oblique of ways of thinking about it. When you step into that chamber as an elected representative, the Rules of Order override a "normal" citizen's First Amendment rights, as you are longer a "normal" citizen. It is not a partisan issue, it is not a matter of suppressing oppostition opinion; and it is not an issue of Rep. Wilson's being right, in fact, he's dead wrong. Now let's go into some of those and break them down.

. . . .The most important issue of the two presented in the above paragraph is not the the truth or lie of the President's statement, or Wilson's accusation (it's patently false and wrong, we'll prove that below). The most important issue is Wilson's outburst to begin with. It reduces this nation, as represented by it's legislative body, to the level of a 3rd world banana republic and is shameful. The floor, the chamber of the House of Representatives is hallowed ground, it is sacred, and a Congressperson's behavior inside that chamber needs to represent that. (Which also applies to the Republican members who brought signs, who hissed, who were generally disrespectful, this is not Great Britain's House of Commons, people fought and died to remove us from that system)

. . . .When you become an elected representative of the United States Congress, you take an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. The President of the United States, currently in office, Barack Obama, was duly elected, by overwhelming majority of the citizens of the Republic of the United States of America, under due Constitutional process. Once the election has taken place, and the oath of office administered, all considerations of whose party is whom, of who voted for who, immediately become irrelevant. That is the elected leader of the greatest nation in the Free World, and deserves the respect that comes with that office, regardless of partisan affiliation.

. . . . .When he addresses a joint session of Congress in the House chamber two immediate things occur (1) He is a guest in the house, and (2) more importantly, he's the boss.

. . . When you make the very conscious decision to run for elected office in the United States of America, when you attain the office, hopefully you're bright enough to realize that when you walk in to the House chamber, you immediately are working and living under the Rules of Order, it comes with the job. What Wilson did was not only disrespectful, it broke the very Rules that he agreed to work and live under. His apology to the White House late last night was necessary, but essentially meaningless, his apology will continue to be meaningless until he apologizes publicly on the House floor, as his outburst was on the House floor. Until that point in time, his outburst, his actions will continue to be broadcast around the world, giving people like Hugo Chavez and Ahmadenijad nothing but fuel for their own broadcasts to their own people.

. . . .The reactions this morning from within his own party, the Republicans:
- Senator John McCain, (who lately appears to be trying to wrest conrol of the Republican party back from the wingnuts and Rush Limbaugh, for which I give him all due respect and my full support) - Wilson's behavior was "totally disrespectful"
- House Minority Whip, Republican Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia - "The President deserves respect and decorum".

. . . .For those who understand the actual workings of politics and the Congress, perhaps the most ominous and frightening things for Wilson were twofold; when he called the White House last night to apologize, the President would not take his call, instead he wound up talking to Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanual, the closest approximation to a "button man" that Washington has. This morning House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi would not talk about Wilson, saying instead that "it was time to move on to health care", instead that became House Minority Whip's Rep. Steny Hoyer's job who said "There'll be time enough to consider whether or not we ought to make it clear that that action is unacceptable in the House of Representatives." Wow, relegated to 2nd level status already, and probably being moved to freshman status by the end of the day.

. . . .As for the facts behind Wilson's outburst, he was dead wrong, as have most of the obstructionists been all along. His outburst of "You lie" came after a statement the President made that illegal immigrants would not be eligible for health care, as he was debunking myth after myth that the Republican Party, and it's house organ Fox News, have been putting out all August. I've read the bill, all 5 versions that were available up till now, and read the proposal put forth by the White House last night. This column, and hundreds of others have debunked the illegal immigrants lie time and again, they are not covered under any version of the Health Care bill presently on the table, not in any way, shape, manner, form or fashion! Politifact got right on it last night, and fact-checked again (for about the 500th time) and Rep. Wilson's outburst was fact-checked and rated false. Again.

. . . As far as I'm concerned, the sharpest, most severe and most accurate rebuke comes from Maj. General Paul D. Eaton, U.S. Army retired:

Retired Colonel (Representative) Joe Wilson's conduct last night is a breach of military protocol and represents a further departure from the historic good order and discipline I expected, in the past, to see from the GOP, pre-conservative talk show entertainers. Recent GOP performers have proven embarrassing to the New Republican Party...

As a retired Soldier I expect better from our Soldiers, to include South Carolina National Guardsmen. But, those rallying in the blogosphere to Wilson's defense claim that he has reason 'to be stressed out' because he has children in the military. Interesting defense.

Fully one third of Army General Officers have sons and daughters fighting in our Armed Forces. Every parent whose children are serving -- as all three of mine are -- can respect the strain retired Col. Wilson might be feeling, and thank him for his sacrifice. Yet I would never expect to hear anything but the greatest respect for the elected President of the United States from these men and women, regardless of their political persuasion. 'Stressed' or not by having military doctors and intelligence officers in the family.

I would also highlight Colonel, Retired (Professor) Andrew Bacevich who has proven a brilliant communicator on behalf of men and women critical of those incompetent warfighters who have handed off serious military dilemmas to President Obama and his administration. Colonel Bacevich lost his son in combat in Iraq a few years ago, and I doubt if the good Colonel would ever embarrass the United States Army or Armed Forces as did Colonel Wilson.

I expect Minority Leader Boehner to police his ranks and help get his GOP colleagues back into a regimen of good order and discipline.

. . . .But then, what do you expect from someone who was schooled in politics by Strom Thurmond, and who tried to label Strom's mixed-race daughter as a liar when she finally presented proof of who her father was.

. . . . .Makes you wonder if Wilson and Thurmond ever greeted one another with that old greeting "Hello, do you know Mr. Ayak?"

. . . . .I write often about Chaos Theory, the study of complex systems and the many inputs and calculating probabilities of outcomes based on nodal points, those points in time when a small, seemingy insignificant act influences a huge complex system in a subtle way and causes great changes, in other words, changes history. History was changed last night, only it wasn't the President who did it, it was Represenative Joe Wilson, a nobody really, who changed everything. Overnight, absolutely everything changed. You can read it, see it, in the tenor of the infotainment channels, in the media coverage, on the Web coverage. It all changed, thanks to Rep. Joe Wilson, and probably not in the way he envisioned bringing about change.

. . . . .Now as for the speech itself, two parts. One is the political theater, the other is the actual substance of what was said.

. . . . .In terms of a speech, of political theater, it was masterful. The President was steadfast, forceful and exhibited the qualities of leadership that he demonstrated on the campaign trail. He was emotional and fiery and very clearly defined the rules of engagement in the debate. There was a line drawn in the sand, and the myths, lies, disinformation and outright slander were all burned to the ground. Maybe, just maybe we can get back to a constructive, postive, forward debate around the formation of legislation around health care reform. It was a speech that went beyond Left and Right, transcended Democratic and Republican party lines and left partisanship in the dust.

Our collective failure to meet this challenge -- year after year, decade after decade -- has led us to the breaking point. Everyone understands the extraordinary hardships that are placed on the uninsured, who live every day just one accident or illness away from bankruptcy. These are not primarily people on welfare. These are middle-class Americans. Some can't get insurance on the job. Others are self-employed, and can't afford it, since buying insurance on your own costs you three times as much as the coverage you get from your employer. Many other Americans who are willing and able to pay are still denied insurance due to previous illnesses or conditions that insurance companies decide are too risky or too expensive to cover.

We are the only democracy -- the only advanced democracy on Earth -- the only wealthy nation -- that allows such hardship for millions of its people. There are now more than 30 million American citizens who cannot get coverage. In just a two-year period, one in every three Americans goes without health care coverage at some point. And every day, 14,000 Americans lose their coverage. In other words, it can happen to anyone.

But the problem that plagues the health care system is not just a problem for the uninsured. Those who do have insurance have never had less security and stability than they do today. More and more Americans worry that if you move, lose your job, or change your job, you'll lose your health insurance too. More and more Americans pay their premiums, only to discover that their insurance company has dropped their coverage when they get sick, or won't pay the full cost of care. It happens every day.

One man from Illinois lost his coverage in the middle of chemotherapy because his insurer found that he hadn't reported gallstones that he didn't even know about. They delayed his treatment, and he died because of it. Another woman from Texas was about to get a double mastectomy when her insurance company canceled her policy because she forgot to declare a case of acne. By the time she had her insurance reinstated, her breast cancer had more than doubled in size. That is heart-breaking, it is wrong, and no one should be treated that way in the United States of America. (Applause.)

Then there's the problem of rising cost. We spend one and a half times more per person on health care than any other country, but we aren't any healthier for it. This is one of the reasons that insurance premiums have gone up three times faster than wages. It's why so many employers -- especially small businesses -- are forcing their employees to pay more for insurance, or are dropping their coverage entirely. It's why so many aspiring entrepreneurs cannot afford to open a business in the first place, and why American businesses that compete internationally -- like our automakers -- are at a huge disadvantage. And it's why those of us with health insurance are also paying a hidden and growing tax for those without it -- about $1,000 per year that pays for somebody else's emergency room and charitable care.

Finally, our health care system is placing an unsustainable burden on taxpayers. When health care costs grow at the rate they have, it puts greater pressure on programs like Medicare and Medicaid. If we do nothing to slow these skyrocketing costs, we will eventually be spending more on Medicare and Medicaid than every other government program combined. Put simply, our health care problem is our deficit problem. Nothing else even comes close. Nothing else. (Applause.)

. . . .Those are the facts, the reality that everyone in this country lives with everyday. The reality is that (1) Insurance companies and underwriters are the true "death panels", they're real, and it happens each and every day. (2) The current system of health care coverage will, inevitably, inexorably, bankrupt this nation. Due to pricing structure, private health insurers are taking more and more from those who are lucky enough to have coverage; taking more and more from their take-home pay, and for those who buy their own, random price increases are the norm. The price of using the emergency room and urgent care for illness for those who are not covered raises prices for services for those who do, and that's just the market, it's a very logical economic reaction towards providing services for those who do not have health insurance. There is a business case for reform of the health care system.

But what we've also seen in these last months is the same partisan spectacle that only hardens the disdain many Americans have towards their own government. Instead of honest debate, we've seen scare tactics. Some have dug into unyielding ideological camps that offer no hope of compromise. Too many have used this as an opportunity to score short-term political points, even if it robs the country of our opportunity to solve a long-term challenge. And out of this blizzard of charges and counter-charges, confusion has reigned.

Well, the time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed. (Applause.) Now is the season for action. Now is when we must bring the best ideas of both parties together, and show the American people that we can still do what we were sent here to do. Now is the time to deliver on health care. Now is the time to deliver on health care.

. . . .A clear call for bipartisan action around health care reform. As the American people, we've grown more hardened and cynical due to sophomoric antics seen in the Beltway this August. The President issued a call, and the call was simple, it's the same thing we've been telling our legislators all along. Do the job that you've been elected to do, the job you're paid to do.

Here are the details that every American needs to know about this plan. First, if you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, or Medicare, or Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have. (Applause.) Let me repeat this: Nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have.

What this plan will do is make the insurance you have work better for you. Under this plan, it will be against the law for insurance companies to deny you coverage because of a preexisting condition. (Applause.) As soon as I sign this bill, it will be against the law for insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick or water it down when you need it the most. (Applause.) They will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or in a lifetime. (Applause.) We will place a limit on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses, because in the United States of America, no one should go broke because they get sick. (Applause.) And insurance companies will be required to cover, with no extra charge, routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies -- (applause) -- because there's no reason we shouldn't be catching diseases like breast cancer and colon cancer before they get worse. That makes sense, it saves money, and it saves lives. (Applause.)

Now, that's what Americans who have health insurance can expect from this plan -- more security and more stability.

Now, if you're one of the tens of millions of Americans who don't currently have health insurance, the second part of this plan will finally offer you quality, affordable choices. (Applause.) If you lose your job or you change your job, you'll be able to get coverage. If you strike out on your own and start a small business, you'll be able to get coverage. We'll do this by creating a new insurance exchange -- a marketplace where individuals and small businesses will be able to shop for health insurance at competitive prices. Insurance companies will have an incentive to participate in this exchange because it lets them compete for millions of new customers. As one big group, these customers will have greater leverage to bargain with the insurance companies for better prices and quality coverage. This is how large companies and government employees get affordable insurance. It's how everyone in this Congress gets affordable insurance. And it's time to give every American the same opportunity that we give ourselves. (Applause.)

Now, for those individuals and small businesses who still can't afford the lower-priced insurance available in the exchange, we'll provide tax credits, the size of which will be based on your need. And all insurance companies that want access to this new marketplace will have to abide by the consumer protections I already mentioned. This exchange will take effect in four years, which will give us time to do it right. In the meantime, for those Americans who can't get insurance today because they have preexisting medical conditions, we will immediately offer low-cost coverage that will protect you against financial ruin if you become seriously ill. (Applause.) This was a good idea when Senator John McCain proposed it in the campaign, it's a good idea now, and we should all embrace it. (Applause.)

Now, even if we provide these affordable options, there may be those -- especially the young and the healthy -- who still want to take the risk and go without coverage. There may still be companies that refuse to do right by their workers by giving them coverage. The problem is, such irresponsible behavior costs all the rest of us money. If there are affordable options and people still don't sign up for health insurance, it means we pay for these people's expensive emergency room visits. If some businesses don't provide workers health care, it forces the rest of us to pick up the tab when their workers get sick, and gives those businesses an unfair advantage over their competitors. And unless everybody does their part, many of the insurance reforms we seek -- especially requiring insurance companies to cover preexisting conditions -- just can't be achieved.

And that's why under my plan, individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance -- just as most states require you to carry auto insurance. (Applause.) Likewise -- likewise, businesses will be required to either offer their workers health care, or chip in to help cover the cost of their workers. There will be a hardship waiver for those individuals who still can't afford coverage, and 95 percent of all small businesses, because of their size and narrow profit margin, would be exempt from these requirements. (Applause.) But we can't have large businesses and individuals who can afford coverage game the system by avoiding responsibility to themselves or their employees. Improving our health care system only works if everybody does their part.

. . . .Now, what I want to point out especially, is the free-market solution, the capitalist solution that the President called for in calling for insurance markets, competitive markets wherein insurers compete with one another for new business. That's not socialist, that's not communist, that's Galbraith at work, that's Keynesian economic theory at work. That's what capitalism and economics in their purest form are. A group of consumers, with a want and a need, doing exchanged with suppliers who all have a product to provide and compete with one another. The reason that I don't give a shout-out to Adam Smith, but instead to Galbraith and Keynes is the regulations laid out in the first paragraph, which are designed to protect the consumer of those services, a theory that both Galbraith and Keynes laid out while crafting the largest economic expansion in history. Yes, under true free market rules, there would be no regulation, however, as hard experience, especially in the last 18 months have taught people, some regulation becomes necessary in order to protect the consumer from those suppliers who would take advantage of people's innate trust and belief. (Economist Dan Levitt, with some good data behind can demonstrate that about 87% of people are innately ethical and morally "good", leading them to believe that others are as well, therefore, regulation is needed to protect consumers from the 13% of providers who are unscrupulous, and providers from the 13% of consumers who are as unethical).

And I have no doubt that these reforms would greatly benefit Americans from all walks of life, as well as the economy as a whole. Still, given all the misinformation that's been spread over the past few months, I realize -- (applause) -- I realize that many Americans have grown nervous about reform. So tonight I want to address some of the key controversies that are still out there.

Some of people's concerns have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost. The best example is the claim made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but by prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Now, such a charge would be laughable if it weren't so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple. (Applause.)
There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false. The reforms -- the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.

It's not true. And one more misunderstanding I want to clear up -- under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place. (Applause.)

Now, my health care proposal has also been attacked by some who oppose reform as a "government takeover" of the entire health care system. As proof, critics point to a provision in our plan that allows the uninsured and small businesses to choose a publicly sponsored insurance option, administered by the government just like Medicaid or Medicare. (Applause.)

So let me set the record straight here. My guiding principle is, and always has been, that consumers do better when there is choice and competition. That's how the market works. (Applause.) Unfortunately, in 34 states, 75 percent of the insurance market is controlled by five or fewer companies. In Alabama, almost 90 percent is controlled by just one company. And without competition, the price of insurance goes up and quality goes down. And it makes it easier for insurance companies to treat their customers badly -- by cherry-picking the healthiest individuals and trying to drop the sickest, by overcharging small businesses who have no leverage, and by jacking up rates.

Insurance executives don't do this because they're bad people; they do it because it's profitable. As one former insurance executive testified before Congress, insurance companies are not only encouraged to find reasons to drop the seriously ill, they are rewarded for it. All of this is in service of meeting what this former executive called "Wall Street's relentless profit expectations."

Now, I have no interest in putting insurance companies out of business. They provide a legitimate service, and employ a lot of our friends and neighbors. I just want to hold them accountable. (Applause.) And the insurance reforms that I've already mentioned would do just that. But an additional step we can take to keep insurance companies honest is by making a not-for-profit public option available in the insurance exchange. (Applause.) Now, let me be clear. Let me be clear. It would only be an option for those who don't have insurance. No one would be forced to choose it, and it would not impact those of you who already have insurance. In fact, based on Congressional Budget Office estimates, we believe that less than 5 percent of Americans would sign up.

. . . . .Here, the lies, the myths, the distortions are put to rest. The lies that the obstructionists and puppets of the insurance companies have spread are finally (I hope) burned to the ground. Again, more than a passing nod to the importance of having insurance companies in the business of providing health insurance and making a profit, and holding them accountable; and a definitive answer, from the President of the United States mouth, which he should not have been obligated to provide (these myths have been debunked and destroyed over and over, but with Chuck Graessley, Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich continually letting them spill out of their mouths, they won't go away) about "death panels", illegal immigrants, and abortion funding. Here is where the public option is presented. Let's make something clear here, because some people don't read everything all the way through, and some people also, even when presented with fact, refuse to change their position. (1) The President did not state that it was part of the plan (that's important, in Washington, and especially with the President, every word is parsed and preserved, a lesson that GWB never learned). He stated that it was an option to include. He also, for those again, who understand Washington, and the insanity of the last month, August, used CBO numbers, not his own. That's important. The other thing he touched on, and has been one thing that very few people, besides my friend Matthew and myself, have even brought up, and that's capping the amount of medical malpractice awards that juries can give, tort reform for short, which is tremendously important, and as well, he did talk about reducing adminstrative costs, which right now, cost in the billions per year.

. . . .Now, my friend Matthew over in Peoria, (a true classic Libertarian if ever there was one, and one sharp, smart dude) will argue, passionately and with good data and back-up about government's involvement in health-care. He's smart, and often right about things. (Matthew, would you please not call yourself a Republican, you're soooo much smarter than them, and know how to engage in political debate in the way the forefathers intended). I often find myself agreeing with him on many issues.

. . . .On the public option, I see the necessity, as Krugman argued back on Monday in his column in the Times, for it, in order to provide complete, external 3rd party competition from the private insurers and preventing them from forming a cartel. I also see where Medicare, without reform, will run deficits in the trillions, and ultimately, fail economically. (Unfortunately, from a political standpoint, Medicare has now joined Social Security as a political "third rail", one which a politician will only touch at the risk of committing suicide). Medicare, right now, is the only real-world case we have in which to base some kind of judgement on a public option.

. . . .For me personally, it's not being a self-employed contractor, but rather, my own personal experiences in post-Katrina New Orleans, and watching an entire health care system collapse and fail, and an entire city's population without services, that tend to make me lean towards a public-option as a back-up, a catastrophic insurance for the insurance. That's too real, and walking the streets, still, 4 years later, convinces me that there must be a safety-net in place. My own viewpoints are more utilitarian, and my argument is always that it's government's function to provide needed and desired services that the private sector finds too costly, or not profitable enough, to engage in, or remain in business for.

. . . .Now, as for the Republican rebuttal to the speech (this from the people who scream constantly about the Fairness Doctrine), it was amazing. After 6 weeks of "death panels", "coverage for illegal immigrants", "pull the plug on Grandma", "socialism", "Nazi", the response boiled down to basically, "let's start over". Whaaatttt???!! Is this just a let's pretend it never happened response or what? After 6 straight weeks of trying their damndest to pull this country apart, to split the Republic over lies, myths and distortions, it's 'let's start over'? 'Let's work together'? Help me out here folks, because it's truly arrogant, and speaks volumes about the typical Republican, neoconservative, extreme Right wing attitude towards the American people, the citizens of the Republic that they can so arrogantly turn to those they duped and metaphorically wink, smile and say "Sorry, we lied" and arrogantly turn towards the rest of us and metaphorically say "Hey, do over, my bad, never really happened".

The reactions to the speech:
Robert Borosage:

The President gives a great speech. He offers reason against hysteria. He summons us to our better angels. He challenges politicians and Americans to do "great things," because that is "who we are." He claims the center by defining himself against left and right, even as he acknowledges merit in both.

But he faces an embittered and disloyal Republican opposition. They scorn his speech as he gives it. They are intent on breaking the administration, not addressing a national crisis. The president offered preemptive concessions on tort reform, while inviting Republicans to join an adult conversation, putting aside the lies and calumnies that have so distorted the debate, like "death panels" and "government takeover of health care." He was answered immediately by anonymous Republican jeering from the floor, and formally by Rep. Charles Boustany, a medical doctor before coming to Congress, delivering the official Republican response by contrasting Republican "common sense" proposals with Obama's "government takeover of health care." Once more the president offers his hand; once more it is spit upon.

This president deserves a better opposition both on the right -- one willing to enter an adult conversation about how to solve the staggering challenges this country faces -- and on the left, one willing to push him hard for fundamental reform, and pressure those in both parties standing in the way.

He is ill-served by the petty corruption and ideological venom of the right, and the docility of the left.

Dan Froomkin:

President Obama showed the nation who he is and what he believes in last night.

His speech to a joint session of Congress wasn't the partisan declaration of war that many of his fellow Democrats had been yearning for, but it was nevertheless a bold and confident declaration of basic principles, and a powerful and emotional attempt to recapture the public debate from the unhinged zealots who dominated it during August.

What is now more obvious than ever is that Obama is not a traditional liberal. Yes, he shares a lot of liberal values -- and he expressed that more clearly and passionately last night than perhaps ever before -- but when push comes to shove, he cares more about finding common ground than pretty much anything else. Despite all the calls to issue an ultimatum about the public option -- which seems absolutely critical to achieving fundamental change -- Obama simply will not draw lines in the sand. He still wants to get as many people into the tent as possible.

The speech did mark a turning point, however. The president we saw last night was not the high-minded pushover we'd seen so much of lately. He was inspirational, forceful -- presidential. The ending of his speech was one for the ages:

We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it. I still believe we can act even when it's hard. I still believe we can replace acrimony with civility, and gridlock with progress. I still believe we can do great things, and that here and now we will meet history's test. Because that is who we are. That is our calling. That is our character.

And to his great credit, Obama robustly addressed what had been the biggest flaw of his strategy so far. The problem with his consensus-building, community-organizer approach to making policy -- whether you like it or not -- is that it simply doesn't work if there isn't even an agreement about basic facts, or if some of the people in the room aren't negotiating in good faith. And on this topic, Obama came out fighting:

Some of people's concerns have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost. The best example is the claim made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but by prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Now, such a charge would be laughable if it weren't so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple.

Later, he added:

I will continue to seek common ground in the weeks ahead.... 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 to improve it. I won't 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 this plan, we will call you out.

He was particularly feisty when it came to beating back the "demagoguery and distortion during the course of this debate" related to Medicare. "[D]on't pay attention to those scary stories about how your benefits will be cut," he said -- "especially since some of the same folks who are spreading these tall tales have fought against Medicare in the past and just this year supported a budget that would essentially have turned Medicare into a privatized voucher program."

Paul Begala:

I loved Pres. Obama's speech. It rallied dispirited Democrats, reassured disenchanted independents and intimidated Republicans. He called a lie a lie, and pledged to call out the right-wing thugs if (well, when) they continue lying.

The President shone a spotlight on the sin of rescission -- the process by which insurance companies protect their profits by dumping customers when they get sick. This outrage has been under-covered by the media, but congressional hearings revealed that just three insurance companies have kicked 20,000 customers off their plans. They included the woman President Obama referred to tonight, whose aggressive breast cancer was denied treatment because she once had acne. The congressional hearings uncovered documents proving that the insurance companies had saved themselves $300 million by kicking those folks off -- and insurance bureaucrats got bonuses and promotions based on who they dumped. This is an outrage. If Sarah Palin wants to see a real-world death panel, she should look no further than the corporate insurance executives whom she and her fellow Republicans so zealously defend.
As good as Obama was, the Republicans may have helped him more than he helped himself. Just as Bill Clinton was blessed by cartoon-character enemies like Ken Starr and Henry Hyde, the face of GOP opposition to Obamacare tonight was not the heroic and patriotic John McCain, but rather some Congressclown named Joe Wilson from South Carolina. Between Mr. Wilson calling our President a liar and the rest of the GOP looking like a cast picture of "Grumpy Old Men," the Republicans were a portait of bitter anger that would be unrecognizable to the sunny and optimistic Ronald Reagan. Mr. Wilson has reportedly called White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel to apologize. Good thing. But Mr. Wilson's rudeness will taint his party for some time.

The harder work will come not under the kleig lights, but behind the scenes. Pres. Obama will need to twist lots of congressional arms to pass his plan. But tonight he fired a shot across the bow of some of the self-professed fiscal conservatives. He decried how the Bush tax cuts, the Bush war in Iraq and the Bush prescription drug plan helped explode the deficit, squandering the Clinton surplus and plunging us deep in debt. No one who voted for that unholy trinity -- and a whole lot of Blue Dogs did -- can credibly oppose Obama's health reforms on fiscal grounds. Let's hope he drives that point home even more powerfully when he meets with moderate Democrats in private.

. . . . Now, as to some of the other points. Max Baucus (The largest Democratic insurance whore who ever lived) and his Gang of 6 have put together what is quite possibly the worst health care reform bill ever. We'll talk more about that one tomorrow.

. . . .We can salvage this shipwreck of a Nation. It will take all of us working together. It will take all of us understanding the concepts of the Great American Experiment, the political process of the Republic. It's amazing, I don't see eye-to-eye on every issue with my friends, but we respect one another's opinion, share information, share facts, and we don't talk over one another or at one another, we talk with one another. It's amazing what happens when a group of people who share the common goal of leaving a better country for their children and grandchildren can do when they sit down with one another as human beings, and realize that we each have power, and together, we are unstoppable.

. . . .I'm going to ask this of you for the next 30 days. Turn your TV off, turn your radio off. Start to use that beautiful mind that your Creator gave you, that your underpaid, underappreciated High School teachers tried to develop. If you hear something, if you read something, if someone sends you an e-mail that says "this bill will do this", or "this politician says this", I'm asking you to check it out. Check it out this way, use some of the following fact-based sites, who exist solely for the purpose of data and fact-checking.
- If whatever you've heard or read concerns a bill in Congress, use the following -
- Open Congress, it's non-partisan and devoted to a complete tracking of every bill in Congress, both houses. How a bill is developed, who is sponsoring it, what the riders are, what the discussion around it is.
- GovTrack, again non-partisan, non-commercial and open source; devoted to the same things, tracking Congress.
- Open Secrets, one of the most important ones, it tracks the lobbying money and campaign contributions flowing to your congressperson, and most of the time is a pretty good predictor of how they'll vote.
- Political Party Time, non-partisan, devoted to solely tracking political fundraisers, and letting you know exactly what parties your Representative and Senators are throwing for fundraisers and who is attending and how much money they're throwing at them to gain influence.

. . . .If someone sends something to you saying "this is so" or "that is so" or "the President/Senator/Representative said this" use the following:
- Fact Check, non-partisan, designed to separate fact from bullshit and fiction
- Snopes, devoted to the same thing.
- Politifact, devoted to getting to the truth, and separating out the lies that are spread.


. . . .I keep doing this not because I don't have faith, but because I do have faith. I have faith in the ultimate triumph of the spirit, intellect and heart of the American people. I have faith that the people I know want to leave something better for future generations, and know that something is terribly wrong, and want to do something about it. I do it because Paine and Jefferson were brilliant, unique singularities and were right.

. . . .I keep doing this because I don't believe in big imaginary friends for adults, I don't believe in alien conspiracies running the Government, I don't believe the Roswell bodies are at Wright-Patterson, I don't believe that a big portal will open up on Dec. 21, 2012, I don't believe that the spaceships will show up.

. . . I do believe that the people who have fucked everything up are greedy, avaricious human beings who have been able to steal from the American people, to harm them, who have run unchecked because no one calls it out for what it is. I believe that if we shine the light of day on it, if the people of this country have had enough, we can change it, and change it for the better.

. . . . I keep doing this because I do believe that people, human beings, unchecked will continue to do what they've done throughout history, and throughout the history of this country. Together, they will find the solutions and provide better for their children and grandchildren.

. . . .I believe in us, I believe in people. I believe in the beauty, power and grace of the individual.

. . . .I do this for everyone who's ever walked that lonely road of knowing what they do, what they believe, what they know is right. I do it for everyone who's ever walked that lonely road of faith, hope, love, hate, justice, war and peace.

. . . .I do it because I believe in justice, in all it's forms.

. . . .I do this everyday for the people and kids who are tattoed, pierced and inked and keep getting told to get "into the mainstream". I do this everyday for those guys who wear black that you don't understand, you just know there's something about them, and that when the chips are down, when you have to walk down a dark alley somewhere, and you know what's waiting for you at the end of it, and you can only take one person with you, that's who you want walking with you, because you know you'll come back out alive, and that guy doesn't care what it costs him.

. . . .I do this everyday for the outcasts, the misfits, the ones who don't fit and who will turn their back on you and walk away when you try to make them fit into a mold. I do it everyday for everyone who does it their way, knows that they're paying a high price for it, but the freedom is worth the cost.

. . . . I do this everyday for outlaws, cowboys, renegades, pirates and fallen angels. I do it everyday for the people who understand that rock and roll can save their soul, that redemption can be found in a 3-chord lick from a vintage Les Paul. I do it for the men and women who aren't afraid to turn it all the way up, who keep looking for an 11 setting on a volume knob that only goes to 10, who know that rock and roll's got nothing to do with age.


. . . .If right now, you're doing something you don't want to do, stop it. If you've surrounded yourself with people who want you to do or be something other than who you are, walk away. If you've got people around you who actually let it slip out that they think you "should be doing (fill in the blank here)" and it involves your life, your future, your existence as an individual, walk away, right now, and don't look back. You don't owe anyone anything. Live fearlessly. If the people around you can't accept it, can't accept you as you are, really are, they aren't and weren't friends anyhow.

. . . .Don't march to anyone else's drumbeat, don't drink the Kool-Aid, anyone's. Right, Left, conservative, liberal, Democrat, Republican, Christian, Buddhist, Pagan. Use your own mind, that's why you were given one. Examine, question, do what's right for you first, everything else will fall in place from there, quit looking for the path, you're already on it.

. . . .Come out of the gate each morning with both barrels blazing, pedal-to-metal, full-tilt boogie, all-in and balls-out, what's stopping you? Do you want to live forever? That'd be boring.

. . . .Got your back. somewhere out there in the night

. . . .Kiss your kids, tell the ones you love out loud that you do. Seize the precious moments before they're ripped away from you. This rodeo is a one-way ticket and no one, absolutely no one gets out alive. There aren't a lot of second chances, and we don't get to dictate terms and circumstances of how the ticket gets punched. This ain't no dress rehearsal, and the curtain's gone up, it's real and right now. It's not about yesterday or tomorrow. It's about right fucking here, right fucking now. This, what you're reading, what you're hearing, is the proof, the words, the sounds and the sights of someone changing his own life and his own world and not being afraid to put it out there. What have you done for yourself lately and why are you waiting? Do it now.

The Desolation Angel
from somewhere halfway to Heaven, and just a mile out of Hell

You know someone like me, there's still a few of us left. If we have to, we'll stand at the gates of Hell and hold the last train home for you.