What would you tell President Obama if you could talk to him about the HCR bill.

[texanwitch]

I would have plenty to say and don't think he would like it.

As big a DU is I am sure someone reads it from the White House crew.

It is not to late to fix this mess.

[Kievan Rus]

1. I'd tell him, "if it passes, you've just lost my vote in 2012 Democratic primary"

[NYC_SKP]

2. One thing is I'd ask him to explain to us how corrupt congress is and how we need reform.

we need reform of lobbyist and campaign finance or we'll never get meaningful reform in anything else.

Health care is superb evidence of this.

I think he could do it in a way that mitigates political damage.

And who knows that he won't, in time?

[Donnachaidh]

3. yeah, HIS campaign promises of cleaning out the lobbyists got done

huh?

But let's blame the corruption in Congress on this POS bill he did/did not work on (depending on who was interviewing him).

:rofl:

[babylonsister]

7. You must have missed this...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x20952

WaPo: New Obama Policy Bars THOUSANDS of Lobbyists

And for you, :rofl:

[Donnachaidh]

14. so who exactly spent 635 MILLION lobbying on this bill?

Santa Claus?

remember -- BO and his admin are MASTERS at saying one thing, and doing another.

And :rofl: back at you.

[dkf]

4. I don't trust insurance companies to value my life.

[Oregone]

5. When "liberals" pass "reform"...

the least they can do is more carefully manage perception so their constituency at least feels like they are getting something. If politicians fail to do this, voting will shed its cathartic element and civil unrest will grow.

They did a shitty job fooling people with this one. This is America. They demand more. At least tell people to look the other way when you shove the stick up everyone's ass.

[katandmoon]

6. I'd ask him when he thought health insurance companies stopped needing to be kept honest

[OregonBlue]

8. I'd tell him that I'm very disappointed and disillusioned. That is appears that under his

"leadership" the corporate big boys are making out like bandits and the average American is picking up the tab. I'd tell him that I thought he was going to stand up TO the corporate interests not FOR the corporate interests and that unless he starts stepping up and putting pressure on Congress and the Senate to get health reform that will help the middle class, not the health insurance companies, I will not vote for him again. I'm a true yellow dog Dem so I won't vote for a Republican but I doubt I'll vote at all.

[LiberalFighter]

9. I would ask him why he didn't push for SIngle Payer

And then rebut any of his arguments and if necessary that if he didn't know then let him know he isn't that smart. And he should fire everyone one of his advisers.

[Motown_Johnny]

10. I would want to start drafting the Signing Statement, and it would be a barn burner

[laughingliberal]

11. I'm not sure I could keep a civil tongue in my head at this point.

And the sense of futility at telling him what he already knows would be somewhat inhibiting. I'd probably just sit there and cry.

If I could find a way to speak I would plead for him to do what's right for the working class and poor. Start fighting for legislation to restore fairness to the tax system. Then I would ask if there really are UFO's (ok, not really :9 )

[timeforpeace]

12. Hey, go on vacation, dern ya. You earned it! Say hi to the fishes!

[sam sarrha]

13. BE A LEADER... SHOW SOME GUTS, DO THE RIGHT THING.!!

[FreeJG]

15. I would talk to him about inviting real experts to the oval office, sweden, france, canada, etc.

who have ACTUALLY done it! And...Mr. President, I think these meetings should be on C-SPAN for all to watch. A surgeon on a panel is NOT an expert! He does surgery. He has never implemented national healthcare plans. These people do exist. They are in other countries. Obama should be talking to them. And we should be allowed to listen!


They work for us...remember?

[Shagbark Hickory]

16. Just two words...

And it aint "let's dance".

[Douglas Carpenter]

17. first I would tell him that I realize that institutional obstacles against a truly good health care

bill are so strong that even LBJ at the zenith of his power and with and overwhelming majorities in both houses and with a signficant number of genuinely moderate and liberal Republicans, even then they were not able to bring about universal coverage.

I would then politely point out to him that Medicare is so popular that even my hardline right-wing fundamentalist Aunt wouldn't dream of wanting to get rid of it. I would then strongly yet politely suggest that the best route to genuine universal coverage that would likely garner overwhelming public support is to propose in the run-up to the midterm elections that proposals similar to that put forward by the late Senator Kennedy and others to phase in Medicare, step by step in a universal program that would over the course of a few years, cover all Americans. I would suggest to him that this would be a winning issue and put Republicans into a position of having to demonize Medicare in order to oppose such a bill. I would then strongly encourage him frame the issue as a moral issue and campaign on the moral rightness of such a proposal.

I would suggest to him that by taking up a program of phased in Medicare for all will not only win him back the respect and support of disgruntled Democrats - it would put him forever in the history books as one of the great reformers of all times like FDR and LBJ.

[TheWebHead]

18. I'd say good job

except there probably should be some sort of yearly/lifetime cap because fraud or innovation could lead to a lot of people having prohibitively expensive care that would have to be passed to everyone else in the form of higher premiums. A hospital unwilling to spend any amount of money to keep anyone alive no longer would feel constrained, racking up multi-million bills that would mean enhancing/extending one life could result in 1000s of others being priced out of any affordable coverage. For every one Ian Pearl, there has to be 999 others paying another $100 more per month in premiums to pay for his care.