The speech – a home run
Wed, Sep 9, 2009
We elected Barack Obama president of the United States for a lot of reasons. One of them was to give speeches like the one he gave tonight, with stakes as high as they could be, and hit that son of a bitch out of the park.
First of all, watching Barack look straight at Republicans when he told them they were full of shit was wonderful. Absolutely joyous. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a US president do that, let alone to a joint session of Congress. It was repeated, constant, and he never once flinched. Barack was goading them to do precisely what they did – sit there like petulant children, to the point that Joe Wilson started acting like a town hall crazy himself.
Likely the only time this has ever occurred in modern history, Wilson’s dementia is particularly appropriate given that he is a white southerner from the cradle of the Confederacy, South Carolina, calling the first black president a liar on national TV. What a fitting way for the Republican Party to define itself. That is gonna stick. Like glue. In perpetuity.
Most of all, this speech managed to pull off a spirited defense of detailed policy while at the same time, taking off, and soaring. Republicans will forever have put themselves on the losing side in a flourish of inanity, hate, and paranoia – meanwhile, health care reform will pass, it will change this country for the better, and Barack Obama will be just getting started.
Yes we can. And Barack Obama just did.
Tags: barack obama, health care, racism, republicanism
September 9th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
When President Obama talked about Senator Ted Kennedy’s letter. The quote matched my comments at the beginning of my video. The plan I explain would save the Federal government $900 billion over 9 years. The President said his plan only needs $900 over 10 years.
I posted my speech on health care reform funding on 9/5/09. Four days before his speech.
Now on youtube:
“A Citizen’s Response to President Barack Obama’s Health Care Speech”
http://www.youtube.com/user/greenspaceguy
The government already has the funds to pay for universal health care and to reduce our carbon footprint. Stay tuned for an earth-shaking paradigm shift that could save jobs, universal health care, and the environment. The Information Age finally talks to its older brother, the Industrial Revolution. Interchangeable parts in a virtual world.
For a full transcript visit
http://www.whitecollargreenspace.blogspot.com
The 50 million individuals with no health insurance are not just Americans; they are our relatives, neighbors, and friends. Just as the majority of us have no idea what it is like to live with a deadly disease or injury, we also cannot imagine what our lives would be like if we had to face such suffering and pain with no health insurance. We must stop using our mouths to fight and argue over which souls will be covered; we must put our hearts and minds together and find the funds to pay for their care. That would be the American way.
Mr. President,
In a recent radio address you stated that the only way for us to dig our way out of the rut we are in is through innovation. I wish for you and Congress to consider the following policy change. Anyone that has questions or comments or thinks that this will not work, can leave me a comment at http://www.whitecollargreenspace.blogspot or send me an email at whitecollargreenspaceguy@hotmail.com
The Federal government leases or owns close to ½ billion square feet of office space. Most white collar workers work an eight hour shift each day even though most buildings are open for 12 hours from 6 am to 6 pm. Overall these expensive facilities sit unused 60 to 70% of the time. By keeping buildings open an additional 4 or 5 hours each day, we could schedule 2 shifts of white collar workers, thus increasing our efficiency by 100% and reducing our carbon footprint by 50%. We could cut the cost of overhead for each employee by 40 to 50%, half as much infrastructure, half as much office space, half as many computers and supplies. With the overhead for each of our 2 million Federal workers approaching $50,000 per year, the potential savings could be $25 to $50 billion per year. By extending this new paradigm to independent contractors and state offices where the Federal government pays the state a percentage of the cost, the savings could be between $50 and $100 billon per year. This could be used as the seed money to help pay the cost of covering the currently uninsured…
September 10th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Through my own personal experience I had a huge political influence and inspiration from Ted Kennedy, and when he died it felt like we were losing some of that. Not to be, he seemed to be in the Chamber at that speech. This from Senator Kennedy’s letter to the President upon his death:
“There will be struggles — there always have been — and they are already under way again. But as we moved forward in these months, I learned that you will not yield to calls to retreat — that you will stay with the cause until it is won. I saw your conviction that the time is now and witnessed your unwavering commitment and understanding that health care is a decisive issue for our future prosperity. But you have also reminded all of us that it concerns more than material things; that what we face is above all a moral issue; that at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country.”
September 19th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Well said.
What Wilson said was unexceptable and the apology lame!
We have to back the president even if we didnt vote him him.