Two things:
1. This is dishonest. He says he doesn't want to give more power to government bureaucrats OR insurance bureaucrats and he wants to give more control to us. But by not including a public option, he is taking away our choice and requiring us to buy a private, for profit product. He is not Solomon splitting the baby--he's giving the whole baby to insurance companies.
2. I do not vote for Democrats so they will insult me and pursue Republican policies. I want them to fight for progressive policies by every procedural means possible and only grudgingly cede ground when absolutely necessary. Obama did not twist the arms of the corrupt Blue Dogs and DLC in any way perceptible way to make health care reform more progressive. Instead, he pushed the policy far to the right to attract GOP votes that he will never get.
There are many good things in the bill, but it could have been and still could be much stronger if Democrats would put good policy, saving money, saving lives, and listening to the voters ahead of in your face corruption.
Why exactly do Democratic politicians think we are going to get out of bed on election day to vote for them, because they screw us 5% less than the GOP? Do they think most people are going to look for that 5% if it isn't so obvious that even the MSM and right wing press can't hide it? Obama and the Democrats in Congress are running out of time to pull their heads out of their asses.
If the vote is close enough to steal in the fall, the GOP will do so.
And they won't be as nice to us as they were under Bush.
First Obama discussed the position of the left, “On one end of the spectrum, there are some who have suggested scrapping our system of private insurance and replacing it with government-run health care. Though many other countries have such a system, in America it would be neither practical nor realistic.” This was a sound repudiation of the idea that Obama is a socialist, or that his healthcare proposal is nationalized medicine. It also should make liberals who support a government run system very happy either.
Next the president tackled the position of the right, “On the other end of the spectrum, there are those, including most Republicans in Congress, who believe the answer is to loosen regulations on the insurance industry – whether it’s state consumer protections or minimum standards for the kind of insurance they can sell. I disagree with that approach. I’m concerned that this would only give the insurance industry even freer rein to raise premiums and deny care.”
Instead he is looking for the middle, “I don’t believe we should give government bureaucrats or insurance company bureaucrats more control over health care in America. I believe it’s time to give the American people more control over their own health insurance. I don’t believe we can afford to leave life-and-death decisions about health care to the discretion of insurance company executives alone. I believe that doctors and nurses like the ones in this room should be free to decide what’s best for their patients.”
http://www.politicususa.com/en/obama-healthcare-remarks