On February 25, President Obama has scheduled a discussion on health care reform to take place at the White House and has invited Democrats and Republicans alike, as well as health care experts, to come to the meeting and talk about their proposals to overhaul our health care system. His stated purpose for the televised discussion is to rescue the health care legislation and he says he wants it to be bipartisan. While this sounds promising, we need to look closer. The devil may be in the details.
The Republican leadership has sent a letter to the White House, asking for some of those details. They want to know who will be invited to the meeting and just how bipartisan it will be. While the Republicans have been decried by the main stream media as the party of "NO", keep in mind that they requested just such a meeting last year and the proposal was dismissed by President Obama. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what has changed. He was of the opinion last year that he and the rest of the Democrats could pass what they wanted and there wasn't a thing the Republicans could do about it. Now that he has lost that majority with the election of Scott Brown, he wants to be bipartisan about it.
I sincerely hope the Republicans do not turn down this meeting, as it will be used against them if they do. At the same time, I hope President Obama does not expect them to come to this meeting and start giving praise to the legislation already passed by the House and the Senate. If he does, then he has the wrong expectations. From CNN, here is a portion of the letter from the Republican leadership.
"Bipartisanship," the GOP leadership argued, "is not writing proposals of your own behind closed doors, then unveiling them and demanding Republican support. Bipartisan ends require bipartisan means."
Here is what Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona had to say about the talks.
The chamber's second-ranking Republican, said in a statement Monday that Obama's call for bipartisan health talks care was welcome "if the point is to listen to Republican ideas and really consider them."
"According to recent news reports, however, White House officials have made it clear 'that Obama does not intend to restart the health care legislative process from scratch' and 'that he's adamant about passing comprehensive reform similar to the bills passed by the House and Senate,' " Kyl's statement said.
"Such preconditions suggest the White House is not serious about genuine negotiations," it continued. "A large majority of the American people strongly oppose the Democrat's massive bill, and Republicans will not abandon them."
I think they have a point. The legislation in question is not popular with the American people. Not only is it bloated, but the manner in which it's passage was negotiated is very much suspect. Maybe the process doesn't need to be completely restarted, but if President Obama and the Democrats expect to use the current legislation as the starting point for discussion, then I am afraid this will all be a colossal waste of time.
