Last night, Barak Obama addressed the U.S. Congress and the nation to "set the record straight" on the issue of health care reform. Since then, the talking heads have been discussing ad naseum every little detail of that speech, not that that's unusual. There were a couple of unusual things about this speech, however, not the least being that Obama made it at all.
Obama, as he himself admitted, is not the first President to attempt this Herculean task. Truman tried in the late 1940s as did the Clintons, disastrously, in the early 1990s. The difference between those former heads of state and Obama is this: He's not backing down. Not that I blame the other two for doing so, considering the flack they encountered. But this is a different time, and Obama is a different person. He gets out there and tells it like it is, in no uncertain terms. If he says he'll "be the last" President to reform this nation's health care system, well, dang it, I believe him.
The other unusual occurence was the lack of courtesy shown Obama by Republican Representative Joe Wilson. I can't remember any other congressperson acting out in such a manner during a Presidential address. Even Clinton, who was hounded non-stop by Republicans during his two terms in office, was never publicly shown such disrespect during a televised speech. And all Obama is trying to do is reform the health care delivery system not for himself or those in congress, but for the American populace.
Even after the speech's concessions (it looks like the "public" part of "public option" is out) the Republican rebuttal by Rep. Charles Boustany still exuded peevishness. Not willing to admit that the administration had ceded ground, Boustany's speech mostly bleated that both parties should "start over". Well, sure. I guess if I was getting paid whether or not I delivered any results, I'd feel that way, too. What we need is for these guys to stop wasting taxpayer money and get the job done. Let's hope Obama's speech will have that effect.
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