Health Care Reform Comes One Step Closer

In a close vote, the House of Representatives passed a landmark health care bill, bringing the United States one step closer to health care reform and coverage for a majority of Americans:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33748707/ns/politics-health_care_reform

It didn't seem possible just this summer with all those volatile town hall meetings and people decrying any sort of reform.  But wait a few months later and something that naysayers never thought would happen is in fact happening:  People are starting to accept the idea of reform.

I, at least, give much of the credit to Barack Obama.  Much credit goes to the man who didn't break, who didn't flinch, who didn't argue when it seemed that the whole country opposed his efforts.  Instead of attacking his critics and telling everyone it was "his way or the highway," Obama responded by going in front of the American people and telling us what health care reform was all about, why we so desperately needed it, and most of all, he showed us that the reason he wanted it was because he cared about us as people and he was willing to compromise in order to bring it to us.  He persisted, patiently, perhaps knowing that people need time to accept change.  And that's exactly what happened.  After a few months, the violence of the town hall meetings subsided, more people came over to accept the controversial public option, and health care reform - about 60 years in the making - is one step closer to happening.  He did it.

I love Obama because he is a prime example of how believing in something (even something it seems that everyone else deems near impossible to accomplish - hello Mr. President!) and working toward that goal diligently, patiently, and persistently brings you to the satisfying culmination of attaining it!  All the principles of my success books come true in Obama and it is a treat to see.  It is a treat to see whenever anyone makes you believe it's possible!

Earlier Saturday (before the bill passed), I was telling my friend how it's so annoying how people, SNL for example, and even John Stewart, were turning on Obama and ridiculing him for not accomplishing anything yet.  I was telling her it was because of Americans' need to have results right away; immediately; NOW!; because everything in our culture has become so quick, we don't know patience anymore.  But that's not how progress happens.  And I was telling my friend how annoying it is that they were decrying Obama taking on so many projects at once, and not accomplishing anything.  Jon Stewart derided him for this, saying, like other critics, that Obama should have taken on fewer projects and accomplished one of them.  My take on it was that he took on so many things at once not so that he could fix them all right away, but so that they could get started working on the solutions right away.  Figuring the solutions would take time but if you start on it early (like my teachers used to tell me), it's more likely to come to you.  I could imagine Obama's smart enough to think like that.  It disheartens me that others seemingly don't.

It's so funny (in the strange, sad sense) how people can turn on you so instantly.  They start seeing everything wrong with you when they used to love you.  My friend said that she believes in having a healthy dose of skepticism because "you know what they say about absolute power."  Yes, absolute power corrupts absolutely.  I'm not saying that it would be a good thing if everyone was so totally in love with Obama they couldn't see his faults or point them out.  And maybe it's a good thing that people oppose him because it keeps him in check so his head doesn't get to be too big and he thinks he can do anything he wants.  The challenge might even serve to strengthen his resolve.  What gets to me is that people are so quick to write him off.  And it's especially harsh because it is the people that were on his side.  But then I have to consider that maybe they just needed something to make fun of him for because there's so little, and attacking him gives them better ratings.  But whatever the reason, it worries me that some people will take SNL seriously and start believing that caricature of him that hasn't accomplished anything instead of seeing the real situation and person.

I guess he'll just have to prove them wrong.

I was telling my friend how when people started turning on Obama, it made me think of this part in Harry Potter that I hadn't bought into before.  It was the part in one of the later books when Harry starts telling everyone that Voldemort is alive.  No one wants to believe him.  They actually turn against him for saying it even though he was their hero.  He was the "boy who lived," the one who had vanquished "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."  But none of that mattered.  As soon as he said something they didn't like, something they feared, they turned on him.  Reading that part, it didn't ring true to me.  But now that I see how the world and people can be, I see how perceptive J.K. Rowling really is about them.

This has been my long and windy way of saying, "Have a little faith in people."  Progress comes if you believe.

Highlights of Obama's Health Care Speech

All this talk about Joe Wilson detracts from Obama's actual health care speech, which I found to be enlightening and clarifying.  I love that he always gives a history lesson when he speaks.  It's like I learn something new every time I hear him.  Some of the points I liked the most:


Health care reform has been a long time coming, nearly a century since Theodore Roosevelt first proposed it.


John Dingal, Sr. introduced a comprehensive health care bill in 1943, and his son continues his legacy by continuing to introduce that same bill at the beginning of every session.


Social Security and Medicare were tough decisions for lawmakers in their day, but both Democrats and Republicans were able to agree on the bills for the good of the American people.


The public option is still an option, but as Obama asserted, it is only a "means to an end," and can be pushed aside for better solutions.


We must pass health care reform to save America's economic future.


Of course, the news agencies and networks are abounding in polls showing what people thought of Obama's health care speech, a 14% jump in approval, but I think the real effect of the speech will show up in the long term.  It takes a long time for things to settle in to people's minds.  Change takes a long time to be acceptable but once it's allowed in, it grows and becomes possible.

Joe Wilson's "You Lie!" Will Haunt Him

It's great when someone messes up and you can criticize and malign their character for one moment of weakness, and most of all, feel with all due satisfaction how much more superior you are to them because you would never ever do anything that stupid.

Yes, it's a wonderful feeling.

I'm certainly enjoying that feeling right now as I think and read all the news articles and analyses about Joe Wilson and his heckle, "You lie!" heard all around the country.  There's even a website that sprung up to ridicule Wilson's annoying ways called joewilsonisyourpreexistingcondition.com.  The site has such tidbits as "Joe Wilson didn't refill your Brita pitcher" and "Joe Wilson said that you looked fat in that dress."  It's quite amusing.

So Joe Wilson has gone and made himself a scapegoat, perhaps even hurting himself in the process (it's said his Democratic opponent, Rob Miller, has received $400,000 for his 2010 campaign against him since his outburst), and all because of two little words uttered at an inappropriate moment.  My bad, I mean, "screamed" at an inappropriate moment.  Kind of reminds me of another Joe who got into an exchange with Obama and made headlines.  Joe the Plumber.  Not like I want to remember that guy, but I did want to point out the similarities.  Like this guy is also named Joe.  This guy also accosted Obama.  This guy also thinks he knows it all.  What is it with guys named Joe who like to confront Obama?  Is it because they are jealous that their name is so plain compared to his?  Although, to be fair, Joe the Plumber's real name is Samuel.

Whatever happened to him anyway?  No one cares anymore.  Once his fifteen minutes of fame were up, people brushed him aside.  I strongly suspect that the same thing will happen with this Joe, Joe Wilson.  He's becomes a caricature, or an actor's worst nightmare, typecasted.  People who oppose him will always see him as an inconsiderate jerk.  People who support him will probably treat him like a punchline at parties, "Say that line again, Joe.  Come on!  Say, "You lie!" again."  Think Gary Coleman and his line in different strokes, "What you talkin' about, Willis?"  Or the ever brilliant Simpsons, wherein Bart in one episode became a one-line hit for saying, "I didn't do it."  It ring so true to this moment.  Joe Wilson has become the one-hit, "You lie!" man.  And sadly, that's all people will ever see him for.  Some people might support him and think he's cool, but they'll abandon him as soon as the next new rabble-rouser comes along to divert their attention.  But for Joe Wilson, he's lost credibility, respectability.  He might even lose his house seat come next year.

That's what happens when you let your emotions overwhelm you.

As for Obama.  He got out of this looking like a sleek shiny new penny, as he always does.  He stays cool under fire, as he did in this situation, responding calmly, "That's not true," and going on with his speech.  That man, I must say, is a great leader, a great role model.  I mean, if my president has to go head to head with some of the most intimidating and powerful leaders in the world, and he does, I'd rather have a president that can look coolly in the eyes of the other man/woman and say, "That's not true," than a man who angrily points at him/her and yells, "You lie!" on national television.  But that's just me.  I'm sure people who like to point and yell side with Joe Wilson on this debate.

If only they realized their anger shows weakness, not strength.

Anyone can give in to anger.  It takes a strong person to hold himself back and control the situation.  As Obama did.  In this encounter, Obama won not just because he acted coolly, but because he came off the better man, and it raised the curiosity of more people to watch a speech they might not have in the first place.

Fear of Change: Health Care Reform

Anytime you mention reform of any kind, you're just asking for opposition because if there's one thing people don't like, it's CHANGE! Good or bad, people would rather stick to the way things are, and struggle it out then to change the thing that's hurting them. That's because their negative imagination makes them fear the unknown future more than they fear the dreadful present. As Spencer Johnson noted in his best-selling allegorical book, "Who Moved My Cheese?," people will do just about anything to keep from changing.

So I guess then I shouldn't be so shocked that so many people are latching onto any type of negative press they hear about Health Care Reform to violently fear it, vehemently oppose it, and imbue it with all the vitriol they've mustered for all the things that have gone wrong with their life. But I'm still shocked. Shocked that so many people are locked into such a state-of-mind that they can't see that change can be good, that the future can be brighter, and that the universe is not always out to get them.

There are plenty of complex analyses of the pros and cons of Health Care Reform, so I'll give you my simple take on it, which is "Why not try?" If we fail, we fail, but then we'll know how to make it better. If we stay where we are, we'll never know, and we'll still be failing, every day, every minute.

Here are some other points I thought were salient:

We have private and public schools, universities, utility companies, postal services, why not private and public health care?

How can we leave such a vital component of human life into the hands of people who may or may not have our best interest at heart, and definitely have their own pocketbooks in mind when it comes to OUR health?

Remember what happened to California, and all those blackouts the greedy electricity companies made us endure to hike up our electricity bills?!!! And what could people do who need electricity but endure it and take it, with no alternative? It's a basic necessity so they have us at their mercy. That's how the health care companies have it with us now, with our health! And people think that's ok. They've somehow convinced people that this is ok, and that Health Care Reform would be the evil thing. Meanwhile they're making major profit margins off our sickness, and they're one of the biggest lobbyists on Capitol Hill.

But it's not hard to convince people when they poke at the fear that everyone has, of the unknown future. And people bite. It's sad, but they do.

When private companies have a product that is a necessity to our lives but without much competition, they have us at their mercy, and that power corrupts. Look at Enron and the banking industry. These companies need to be checked, because when you're at the top, you don't care about all the little people under you getting hurt, needing help. As long as your needs are satisfied, your palace is kept in nice order, your corporate jet is filled with champagne, you could care less. That's just human nature.

That's why it has to be checked. The public option is a way to keep the health care companies in check. It's as simple as that. If we have to pay for it, we have to pay for it. We do pay for it anyway. And probably much more because we pay when people get really sick, rather than when they could have gotten preventative care and taken care of the problem early on, so we would have paid less.

And I know some people hate the idea that their hard-earned money is going toward paying someone else's health care bills, but if you really think about it, it really helps you. Consider: what if some person got infected with some deadly contagious disease but had no health insurance and couldn't see a doctor? What happens when that person comes in contact with someone, who passes it to someone, who passes it to someone, who passes it on to you and your family? Now you have a big problem that could have been avoided if that first person just had the ability to go to a doctor.

Universal Health Care like Universal Education helps everyone. Like Universal Education helps ensure an educated workforce, Universal Health Care will help ensure a healthy, vibrant workforce that can contribute to the economy and make major breakthroughs. Everyone benefits.

President Obama is making his speech on health care tonight at 5pm PDT. I have faith in him to pull this out. I hope that the public option will still be on the table. If not now, at least for the future. But I'd rather have some reform now than none at all. If it's just stronger regulation, that's something. A big step in a positive direction.

"Make us all proud. I know you can do it. "

Obama makes me proud in his address to school kids this morning. It was an inspiring and moving speech that, I believe, cements the fact that our president is a truly wonderful thinker and orator.

Here's the link for the full text of the speech:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/MediaResources/PreparedSchoolRemarks/

Some of the parts that resonated the most with me:

"Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future."

"Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.""

"These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time."

"No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice."

"And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself."

I agree. Thank you, Mr. President.

Obama's Speech to the Nation's Schoolchildren

It seems that concerned parents and the Republican party are terrified that their “impressionable” children will be "brainwashed" into supporting a "socialist agenda" just by hearing one speech, which will not even focus on anything political, but rather the importance of education and hard work in making dreams come true.

It boggles the mind that some parents think their kids so dumb that they can actually be "brainwashed" after one speech. I mean, Obama is a wonderfully gifted orator but he's not that good. Have they never been kids before? Most kids don’t even pay attention. If they did, do you think there would be such rampant drug use after all those D.A.R.E. presentations we endured? Obama is an amazing speaker but one wonders how great his speech can be if he has to dumb it down for the youngest kids. By my mind, he won't dumb it down too much but will rather go middle of the road so that the older kids don't feel talked down to. But that means that the younger kids, the more impressionable kids, won't understand him that well anyway, at least not well enough to understand “health care reform” if he should dare say it.

Of course, what parents are really afraid of is not that their kids will become liberals per se but rather that their kids will stop listening to them and their ideas. They're afraid of losing control over their kids' thinking. But they should know that when it comes to politics kids listen to their parents more than they listen to strange men on TV, even if that strange man happens to be the President of the United States. After all, I was a Republican as a kid. That's because my parents are Republicans, so I figured I was too. I didn't really think it was a choice. It was like religion. Whatever they were I was. And I didn't care enough to choose differently.

But by making this speech such a big deal and by getting it banned in some schools, what they and the Republican Party have done is to make it cooler to those older kids who matter more – the ones who will be of age to vote for Obama for reelection. Yes, that’s right. That’s the primary reason that the Republican Party is up in arms over this speech anyway. They’re afraid these schoolchildren will like Obama so much, they’ll abandon the Republican Party in droves and flock to the Democrats. That’s what the Republican party is worried about the most: That young people, who voted overwhelmingly for Obama in 2008, will be so enchanted by one speech by him that they will, four years later, when they come of age, propel him to another four years in office. That’s the main fear, Obama’s charisma charming future voters, not all this stuff about forcing ideology, because you know Obama would never be able to get away with talking about any of that.

The funny thing is, those kids, who might have thought it was lame before, will now be intrigued by the controversy surrounding it. Because you know the thing that kids (and people in general) like the most? Banned stuff! And with the internet, kids banned from seeing the speech can easily hop on a computer (and they will) and watch it anyway, just to see what all the ruckus is about. At the same time, kids who are allowed to see the speech might just feel privileged because they know that there are kids in the country who aren't allowed to watch.

Apparently, some people haven't learned enough from history to realize that when you tell someone "No!," that's the one thing they really want to do. Especially when other people get to do it for nothing. Heck. I want to see this speech now.