"Obama was holding back tears when he finally signed the health care bill."

[Clio the Leo]

Confirms what I always thought was the obvious.

Wolffe writes that Obama was holding back tears when he finally signed the health care bill. He says that it helps answer an important question: why Obama stubbornly insisted on moving forward with the health care overhaul when others advised against it.

"This was clearly a decision that his own chief of staff didn't agree with, and there were other senior advisers who thought this was insane, lunatic, to risk the presidency on it," Wolffe says. "And it comes down to the memory of his mother.

"So, his mother passed away because of cancer. Her experience in her final days and months was about struggling with insurance companies over ... the question of pre-existing conditions. And if you listen to the president, what does he talk about most?" Wolffe says. "It's about insurance companies quibbling with patients about pre-existing conditions.

"And he tears up — it's strange that people didn't kind of notice it — in all of the hullabaloo around the signing in the East Room, he can barely keep it together. And that's very, very rare — to see a president, especially this president, who is struggling, fighting with himself, to hold back the tears."

Although the health care overhaul may have hurt Democrats at the polls, it wouldn't have been Obama's style not to go for it, Wolffe says.

http://www.npr.org/2010/11/12/131274744/-revival-author-outlines-white-house-identity-crisis

[JamesA1102]

1. K&R nt

[phleshdef]

2. Yea, hand the guy a bill that could have spared his mother pain and tell me he shouldn't sign it?

[Whisp]

3. Bless you, Barack Obama

and thank you.

There has not been a President with such dignity and integrity as this one for a long time.

[hedgehog]

4. Every time someone here insists that Obama has sold us out,

I want to remind them that this is Stanley Ann Dunham's son were talking about!

[great white snark]

5. I'm sure Ted Kennedy was on his mind also.

Thank you Mr. President.

[still_one]

9. Ted Kennedy would have had a public option or single payer, and not exclude them from the initial

talks or have the insurance industry effectively write the bill

[Clio the Leo]

12. "you will be the president who at long last signs into law the health care reform."

The last communication to the President by the Senator ... after the Pharma deal and "single payer lock out" had taken place.

Infer in that what you will.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/11/kennedy-letter-to-obama-v_n_283338.html

[great white snark]

13. Thank you Clio. (nt)

[Clio the Leo]

18. ...

:fistbump:

[RaleighNCDUer]

19. +1

[phleshdef]

25. You obviously know nothing about Ted Kennedy.

Ted would compromise his ass off if he felt he had to. And he had a HUGE hand in negotiations for the Mass health plan that Romney signed.

[Clio the Leo]

27. And that's what's missing from Congress today...

.... too much grandstanding for the sake of future election, not enough compromise (from BOTH sides) for the sake now. The GOP seems to lean slightly more toward compromise since the election and less toward obstruction at all costs. They have to at this point. They SAY they "heard the message of the people" ... time will tell if they really did. Is it Thursday yet?

[ramapo]

33. Kennedy delayed HCR by 35 years

He single-handedly killed Jimmy Carter's proposal to provide universal converage. A long forgotten example of democrats eating their young.

[karynnj]

38. Utter BS - - and I know that Carter hit Kenendy for not backing his effort

but the fact was that there was no Carter plan that was making its way through the Congress. It is absolutely not true that there was ever a comprehensive plan put forward by Carter. Unless you are conjecturing that had Kennedy not opposed him, Carter would have won and then pushed for a plan and got it through Congress, you are overstating your case.

In addition, Kennedy, at that point, did not chair HELP or Finance - the two committees that had jurisdiction in the Senate to do this.

What you have is Carter hitting back at an enemy, who he seems never to have forgave, and trying to improve his own reputation.

[sallyseven]

51. Just like McCain keeps

hitting Obama because he had the tenacity to beat him at the ballot box.

[ProudDad]

93. Which is failing in Mass. just as this simulcra of it will fail nationally...

It shovels cash at the assholes who created and perpetuate the problem of for-profit Sick Care...

It does NOTHING substantial about the geometrically rising prices of our 37th place Sick Care "system" (not costs! Prices = cost + PROFIT)...

By starting his "negotiation" at the Bob Dole/Mitt Romney financing position he perpetrated a terrible waste of a Golden Opportunity...

[impik]

6. God bless you, great man.

[global1]

7. I Can't Believe That Somebody Actually UnRec This Post......nt

[jonnyblitz]

15. I can, it's SAPPY. "he's holding back tears", please.

:eyes:

[dionysus]

30. .

:nopity:

[Lilith Velkor]

72. Thanks for reminding me.

:hi:

[still_one]

8. I can tell you I will be paying 25% more for less healthcare coverage where I work next year

I would have excepted that except in their infinite wisdom they decided that most of the major effects won't take place until 2014

Right now, coop's or not, you are still screwed if you have a pre-existing condition, and you are suddenly without insurance

[Mimosa]

11. My partner and i are screwed until 2014. That seems a long way off when one has health problems..

The insurance rates for self-employed over 55 are nightmarish. The program offered through the state of GA for people with pre-existing conditions -nearly everybody- is high deductible ($2,500 a person before coverage kicks in, limited coverage, copays and costs $688 a month per individual.


Public option starting in 2011 should have been done if single payer was truly impossible. The corporations would not permit it.

Considering Stanley Ann Dunham's situation of breast cancer: under the system existing right now, nothing in her case would be different. Pre-existing conditions and affordability for anybody who is an adult will still be an impediment for medical coverage until 2014. (And we don't know for certain about what will happen then). People will be out here sick, unable to afford treatment, if they don't qualify for Medicaid, until 2014.

[still_one]

16. and I don't understand that. Why the delay? /nt

[great white snark]

21. Complain to the insurance companies, they wrote the bill.

:shrug:

[truedelphi]

57. Sadly, those nine words of yours say it all. n/t

[ProudDad]

94. They wanted to punt it past the 2012 "re-election" campaign...

Very simple...

They know it's shit and won't work...

[MgtPA]

42. Ovarian.

[Zavulon]

102. At least you're working.

The passage of this crap bill was followed by my boss calling everyone he had laid off and telling them that the hopes he had of hiring us back had vanished as soon as pen hit paper.

I understand what you're saying, though. I loathe the bill.

[zipplewrath]

10. Bad trade

I understand his desire, but he basically gave up everything for this single change, which could have been achieved in multiple other ways that didn't require nearly the effort or damage.

[ProSense]

14. No, a lot of people

like a lot of things about the bill, so it's a huge plus.

[RaleighNCDUer]

22. Big fucking whoop.

You need a dollar. Someone gives you 50 cents, and then asks "do you want to keep that 50 cents, or give it back?"

Of course you're going to keep it - but it is still LESS than what you NEED.

This POS legislation is not a step in the right direction. It locks employer-based private insurance in as THE healthcare system in America, guaranteeing that your health is nothing but a source of profit for some guys in suits who you will never see. It built a wall across the road to single-payer, and the only thing that will get us there now is the complete collapse of the entire system - and that WILL happen, sooner than you think, because there is no impediment to the continued looting in the existent system.

I promise, within ten years all those who now tout this as being such an accomplishment will wonder why they ever thought that - just as the cheerleaders for NAFTA can't believe they ever bought the crap the Repubs sold us on that. That is, all those who survive.

[ProSense]

24. That's one way to put it.

"You need a dollar. Someone gives you 50 cents"

"This POS legislation is not a step in the right direction."

Someone gives you 50 cents = taking 50 cents from you or not giving you 50 cents?

"It locks employer-based private insurance in as THE healthcare system in America"

So would have Nixon's bill (liberal by today's standards?) and Clinton's bill (if only).

But President Obama isn't Nixon or Clinton, he got it health care reform done.

[MrDelawho]

39. No, he got an inadequate bill passed...

that surely added to the loses we suffered this election, and may well bring down the Democratic White House in 2012.All that so the insurance industry retains the right to rape the American public , at will.

[ProSense]

44. It was an "inadequate bill"

that even a democratic socialist could support.

I'd say that's progress.

[MrDelawho]

46. ..and I think that was 2 steps in the WRONG direction.

You can't make progress going THAT way.

[ProudDad]

97. Bernie was NOT supporting the bill

he was making lemonade out of a lemon...

He doesn't believe that shit that some staffer wrote for his website...

He just hopes that by pretending that the bill's worth a shit (there are a few crumbs in there after all) until it fails and then, in another generation, maybe we can try to get a Comprehensive, Universal Health Care system like the rest of the Industrialized WORLD already has...

[ProudDad]

96. C'mon -- HillBill's bill was also a giveaway to the health insurance mafia

Obama just upped the ante by paying off the drug industry too...

[zipplewrath]

32. For whom?

The vast majority of people are unaffected by the features of this bill, except for those who will see their rates rise due to the mandates and removing the pre-existing condition.

The improvements in this bill could have been achieved without mandates, cadillac taxes, or 12 months of lost time. And it definitely could have been achieved without losing the House, and the MA senate seat.

[ProudDad]

95. Since the entire civilized Industrialized WORLD has decided

otherwise, why the hell do you persist in defending For-Profit Sick Care???

Just because Obama signed a shitty bill with a few crumbs in it -- that WILL NOT CONTROL COSTS -- that will leave out tens of MILLIONS of USAmerican people -- that does NOTHING about the UNDERINSURED...

That was a POS when Bob Dole (R-Viagra) and Mitt Romney (R-Latter Day Saint) proposed this crap...?

[Mass]

17. Good for him, but what is your point?

I think most of us are adult enough to acknowledge the bill does not go far enough, even if it brings good things to some groups of people.

[grumgrum]

20. What you Americans call Healthcare Reform we in Canada see it as 19th Century

Seeing as how Insurers can still charge and arm and a leg for nothing and there will still be another 30+ million uninsured (because of the growing population by 2014) it seems this reform was more a giveaway for corporations. It has some nice things like pre-existing coverage but at this pace true reform (ie. Single Payer) will not be in place until the U.S. goes bankrupt or people have moved to a civilized society.

[obxhead]

36. Many of us here in the US feel the same way.

Welcome to DU.

[laughingliberal]

43. +1000 nt

[Mimosa]

52. Amen, Grumgrum. Here's a nother reason this 'reform' sucks..

"It locks employer-based private insurance in as THE healthcare system in America"


How dumb was THAT when more and more Americans work as independant contractors, self-employed or part-timers BECAUSE corporate America does not want to provide benefits including health insurance.

many of us will still be out in the cold of the open market, subject to the tyranny and age discriminatory premiums dictated by the likes of Blue Cross Blue Shield (now in the process of changing identity yo 'Anthem').

Single payer and public option was the way to fix this. Our bought and paid for politicians could have educated the public and presented a plan people would understand. But the 'selected representatives' get their campaign cash from the corporations, so that was a no go.

[ProudDad]

98. But it will be too late 'cause they won't let us in...

Why should they want their societies to be contaminated by terminal stupid?

[kjackson227]

23. And, the best is yet to come in 2014 when the exchanges become available. eom

[Dr Fate]

26. I'm still holding back my tears. n/t

n/t

[Catherina]

29. Me too. n/t

[YOY]

28. and I, in turn, am gonna harden my heart...I'm gonna swallow my tears.

n/t

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Kaylee]

34. These two things aren't even remotely the same...

Bombing a nation under false pretenses = attempting to decrease the number of uninsured in this country. :eyes:

It's only through morbid fascination that I even bother to read DU now days.

[Lochloosa]

35. Kaylee, ignore him. Since he just joined today I decided to do a search on his other post.

They don't get any better.

[MrDelawho]

37. Bush's "error" killed our economy, Obama's blunder killed our majority,...

as well as any chance of REAL HC reform in our lifetime.

[ProSense]

48. Well, killing a political majority pales in comparison to killing the economy

and your opinion about the prospects for real health care reform isn't as bad as Bush lying the country into a war that took the lives of more than 4,000 U.S. troops and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. It's also not as bad as committing war crimes, which Bush admitted to.

[MrDelawho]

50. That would be your , seemingly narrow, opinion.

[ProSense]

54. No,

it was actually Bush's opinion.

[Name removed]

55. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[truedelphi]

59. Many here don't want to hear anything about

Obama's blunders. or collusion. Or whatever it is.

Like someone else said, he plays fifteen dimensional chess while the other side BOXES.

[polichick]

40. Everyone who wanted a public option was holding back tears too. nt

[MrDelawho]

41. I was holding back ....vomit.

[Pirate Smile]

62. Thank goodness this scumbag got a dirt pizza.

[JuniperLea]

64. No shit!

Nothing but shit was posted by that one. I'm surprised he's gone, actually. I thought that was the preferred manner of posting these days.

[Bobbie Jo]

65. Unfortunately...

he seemed to fit right in.

[Pirate Smile]

68. Too true.

[JuniperLea]

69. That's true...

Sadly.

[Name removed]

73. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[janewin]

81. very funny

I was reading it expecting to see it say that"he was holding back tears bcos he couldn't get a single payer HCR that he promised". And before anyone forgets, here is the promise he made to the American people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRNx-F8vRmM

This really pisses me off, he got absolutely ZERO, zilch, nada republican votes but still passes a national version of the ROMNEYcare and yes its Mitt Romney of the Republican presidential candidate. If this doesn't make u sick to your stomach, then u need to re-examine your democratic credentials.

[JuniperLea]

45. Very touching...

God Bless you, Barack Obama.

[AtomicKitten]

47. He promised Teddy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIwM0gkLF0s
I agree, Joe. It was a big f*cking deal.

[JTFrog]

49. K&R!

[JNelson6563]

53. K&R

I see the swarmers are working hard to get this thread locked as they so often do on positive OPs.

Julie

[ProudDad]

99. "Swarmers"?

Isn't that against the "new rules"?

But, the truth hurts doesn't it...?

Watch the Potter segment on Olbermann's show tonight...

[Scurrilous]

56. K & R

:thumbsup:

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

58. It's scary how much he looks like his mother and grandfather! Scary!!

[Cal33]

61. Where did you get to see their pictures? Thanks in advance.

[Pirate Smile]

63. Here is one

edit to add:

[Cal33]

87. Many thanks for the pictures.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

66. His mother's pic is in the OP's post.

Here is his grandfather:

[Cal33]

86. Such a young grandfather!

[budkin]

60. I was glad, but I wasn't happy how the Corporations were able to water it down

[flamingdem]

67. That is a GREAT STORY, our president cares, we are damn lucky nt

[Vinca]

70. I'm sure symbolically it was important to him, but there are real people

who will not survive until 2014.

[Whisp]

103. so the world's 100% death rate is now Obama's fault too?

sure, why not, what the hey.

[KoKo]

71. Well......That's interesting...but..Many Progressive Activists are "Holding Back Tears" these days.

So...I guess..It's a WASH.... If one can look at it pragmatically.

[MadHound]

74. A lot of us were holding back tears,

Not because of Obama's mother, but because Obama and the Dems had squandered the best chance in a generation to make firm progress towards single payer health care. Instead, Obama broke his promise and signed a bill that not only mandated insurance for everybody, but worse, didn't have a public option.

[firedupdem]

75. K&R n/t

[Skittles]

76. maybe he read it

[ibegurpard]

88. +1

[Raine]

90. +2 nt

:thumbsup:

[katandmoon]

77. Aww, there, there, Barack. Don't cry. The health insurance industry was ECSTATIC t

that you sold us out to them.

[Raine]

80. Agree

completely.

[jeanpalmer]

78. I didn't see any tears

I watched the youtube version and there's no sign of tears. In fact, he was kind of joking around during the signing, drawing chuckles several times. Someone is letting her/his imagination run wild.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIwM0gkLF0s

[YOY]

85. Hush now. You're ruining perfectly good shmaltz.

n.t.

[eridani]

79. Because he realized that the insurance parasites would thank him by donating to Republicans? n/t

[Kltpzyxm]

82. I think

insurance company CEOs were letting loose with tears of joy.

[BeyondGeography]

83. I'm happy for him...he did his best and did justice to his mother's memory

That alone is a great achievement, by any measure.

:patriot:

[Safetykitten]

84. This HCR reform will be one of the biggest achievements since Medicare.

[ibegurpard]

89. oh please...

[jeanpalmer]

91. Does he shed even one tear

when he sends out his drones?

[ProudDad]

92. Hell, so was I...

but I was weeping for a lost Golden Opportunity...

[TomCADem]

100. K & R!

[Zavulon]

101. I was practically in tears when he signed it, too.

After eight years of Bush, we had the White House and both majorities and this shit bill was the best we could do? I'd much rather have waited a few years for a good bill than have a lousy one shoved down our throats.

[ProudDad]

105. Amen

:hi:

[Raine]

104. I had tears too at the give away it was

to insurance and big pharma, they got what they wanted. x(