And My Other Objection To The Health Care Reform Show...

Obama wants to spend half a day on a bipartisan health care summit reforming one sixth of the US economy.  My tirade is below, but my other issue is that Obama will just make stuff up and no one in the media will challenge him.

By way of example, while Washington was distracted by the big snow storm outside, Obama delivered his own snow job in an address to DNC donors (my emphasis):

I got a letter -- I got a note today from one of my staff -- they forwarded it to me -- from a woman in St. Louis who had been part of our campaign, very active, who had passed away from breast cancer. She didn't have insurance. She couldn't afford it, so she had put off having the kind of exams that she needed. And she had fought a tough battle for four years. All through the campaign she was fighting it, but finally she succumbed to it. And she insisted she's going to be buried in an Obama t-shirt.

The woman had a name - Melanie Shouse (confirmed with the White House by Sunlen Miller of ABC News).  She also had insurance.  Details of her story vary a bit (links here), but she had a catastrophic policy with a $5,000 deductible; with copays, her annual medical bills would have run about $8,000 to $10,000 per year, by her estimates.

Ms. Shouse, who was by all accounts a real dynamo, had just maxed out her credit cards to put $30,000 into a small business when she felt a lump in her breast at about age 37. From her statement:

I had to take the ultimate risk with my health in order to chase the American Dream, like so many small business owners in America today. So when I first felt a small lump, denial seemed the only option available to me.

In a taped interview (start at 2:00) she says she went with the "denial" strategy for several years; eventually she got a diagnosis, promptly qualified for Medicaid, and began treatment too late.

It's a very sad story but the takeaway is more complicated than "she had no insurance".

When Hillary told a story on the campaign trail of a woman with no insurance the Times investigative machine tracked down the truth.  I have no doubt that once the snow clears the Times will apply the same diligent standard to Obama.

WHAT'S THAT?!?  People don't think the snow will clear until 2017?  What about this global warming thing?

Comments

[Danube of Thought]

Oh, how I pray that the GOP thinks long and hard about this thing before going along. They're winning, and the first concession ought to come from the guys who are losing. And Obama has already announced that he won't give it.

[Jack is Back!]

DoT,

Its the old "rope a dope" strategy Ali used to employ to sucker Joe in and get him arm weary then explode off the ropes, dance the jig, jab, jab, jab, dance some more, wear him down and then drop him.

They need to make him come to the middle of ring so its punch, counter-punch. Don't let him set the rules. Don't let the TV guys set the rules.

Its a dangerous game if they let him suck them in on his own terms. No winner here but him.

[maryrose]

I think Obama being forced to admit {untruthfully] that he is not an idealogue is a win for the repubs. They also got him to admit that he knew they had presented ideas about healthcare and he rejected them. I thought that Friday meeting was a draw. Obama came across as snippy and evasive.In the future let the dems hang themselves on national TV trying to jam a healthcare plan down our throats. Let them swing in the wind
until everyone sees their plans won't work. I think this meeting is a chgeck off so then they can use it as an excuse to go the reconciliation route.

[clarice]

Doesn't matter what you think, maryrose. I'm sorry to say. His only bump up in the polls seems to be in conjunction with that bipartisan stunt.The muddle seems to love that carp.

[Jeff]

Obama boxed himself in at the GOP retreat. He has to try and shoot down the GOP ideas. If he insists that the starting point is the Obama care mess they should tell him to take a long walk on a short pier. If he's willing to start from stratch them it worth it.

[Jane]

Am I nuts or is this the third time TM has told this story?

[Neo]

Meanwhile, Wall Street is getting tired of playing “kick the ‘fat cat’ banker”

“The expectation in Washington is that ‘We can kick you around, and you are still going to give us money,’ ” said a top official at a major Wall Street firm, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of alienating the White House. “We are not going to play that game anymore.”

[cathyf]

Yep, Jane, or is it four times?

C'mon, Tom, we are paying attention -- even if you are making some new point you don't need to repeat the details, a link to a previous post should suffice for that part!

[Jane]

Yep, Jane, or is it four times?

Cathy - Oh thank God. I haven't been able to do more than skim in quite awhie and I was sure I was going nuts.

[Mike Giles]

I hope the first question the assembled Republicans ask is whether we are starting from the beginning, and crafting AN ENTIRELY NEW BILL IN A BIPARTISAN MANNER. If the Democrats answer in any other manner, other then yes - which they will - the Republicans, should reply that there's really no need for them here as they refuse to simply provide cover for the same old failed legislation. Then stand as a group and walk out.

[Neo]

What comes around .. goes around ...

Mr. Bush Obama has reacted by railing against Democrats Republicans for obstruction - as if Democrats Republicans are duty-bound to breathe life into his agenda and, even sillier, as if opposing a plan that the people do not want is an illegitimate tactic for an opposition party.
Rather than accept defeat and consider alternatives, Mr. Bush Obama is becoming even more feckless as public and political opposition mounts. On Tuesday, in a lame ploy to draw the Democrats Republicans to the table, he ...

[Ignatz]

--Its the old "rope a dope" strategy Ali used to employ to sucker Joe in and get him arm weary then explode off the ropes, dance the jig, jab, jab, jab, dance some more, wear him down and then drop him.--

Rope-a-dope was on George Foreman, no?

[Lily]

You can't debate a liar.