Obama: “I Don’t Break”

Exactly Terry. We are fed up. This strongarming talk from Chicago, only reminds me of all the corruption that has defined Chicago through the years. We the People are fed up with politicians on both sides of the aisle. We want someone to listen to us and lead.
I like how some of the others planted here on these comment posts on ABC, spew out numbers with no sources, and then ask everyone else for theirs. Amazing.
We don’t even need numbers or sources to see what is going on. We are not a dumb race of people. We are Americans who are engaged everyday. We are Americans that know history. And history tells us, that this current path is NOT American.

We will not be broken in our fight to stop this out of control spendthrift government. Take heart 2010 is coming.

I am more than happy to pay slightly higher taxes.
Paying higher taxes doesn’t make it free.
I do not want higher taxes

err jacksmith,
The republicans are in the minority and can’t block anything the democrats want to pass. It’s not republicans blocking health care.

Obama’s just starting. He’s doing everything he said he would do but it will take time. Fixing health care the right way is not only a moral imperative, it’s an economic imperative. 50 million people have no coverage! The rest of us are boxed in by outrageous costs, limited choices and medical decisions made by bean counters. Health care is working for no one right now but the greedy fatcats. Reform is coming. Count on it.

@american in japan: apparently you have left the US a long time ago. The Institute of Medicine reported in 2006: “As a result, ambulances are turned away from emergency departments *once every minute on average*”

Just plain old common sense coupled with a little practical experience in life tells you that gov’t. is not the best answer to problems. Put another way, do you want bureaucrats & politicians running our health care system? Please, give me a break! Do you want hospitals to run like the Post Office? Or like our failed school systems? Who in their right minds believes ANYTHING the gov’t. runs can be efficient, save money, & offer good service? Politicians & faceless, nameless bureaucrats will screw up anything they touch. Gov’t. is famous for unintended consequences of poorly thought-out plans & programs usually put together by ”experts” – often, academics with zero practical experience of how anything works outside their ivory tower or special interest lobbyists who don’t have the people’s interest at heart.
The politicians & bureaucrats don’t even want this plan for themselves which should tell you something.

“The rest of us are boxed in by outrageous costs, limited choices and medical decisions made by bean counters. Health care is working for no one right now but the greedy fatcats.”
That’s a pretty broad statement, isn’t? I’m very happy with the healthcare I receive for the price I pay from my insurance company.
Obama mis-managed his opportunity for significant healthcare reform by not showing leadership through outsourcing of the plan to far-left Democrats such as Kennedy, Pelosi, and Waxman. Compounding his lack of leadership, he owns the “stimulus” package which has been nothing short of an epic failure that has brought significant concerns to Americans regarding the amount of debt we are incurring as a nation to be paid by later generations.
Obama blew it and he has only himself to blame given the large majorities he has in Congress. He didn’t manage the process well (i.e., Congress) and has over-reached.
The inability for him to push through his “signature” legislation will have a significant impact on him politically (and probably personally given his thin skin). He will be broken. The process has already started and will gain momentum when Congress goes on recess only to face rowdy townhall meetings of frustrated and fed-up constituents. Watch the Dems scatter.

I think what Obama meant to say was:
“I don’t bend.”
When you don’t bend, you may break.

Obama should apologize to the police department that had to deal with Obama buddy Gates. As president, he made a shameful remark and needs to apologize.
It won’t break him to do the right thing.

In the Wall Street Journal there is an article by John Hurt titled ”Health Care Reform’s Hidden Victims” which fills in some of the details of exactly who will be hurt in this plan, details conveniently left unmentioned by Obama in his sales pitch.

Okay, so you don’t break. Health care doesn’t get passed before August recess. If it gets passed before the end of the year (or even early 2010), currently uninsured people will expect to be able to go to the doctor or emergency room for very little or no money. We’ll see about that. Mark my words: The lower middle class will get screwed again.

Just remember everyone, it’s not about him.

And you don’t see him blaming Republicans either.
I hope BO continues to go on TV everyday and gives a monthly press conference.
Every time he does that more Americans will realize what a fraud he is.

For First Time, Obama’s Approval Rating Falls Below 50%
First time his overall approval rating has ever fallen below 50% among Likely Voters nationwide. Fifty-one percent (51%) disapprove.
Independents: 37% support
And for you Rasmussen bashers: RASMUSSEN was the most accurate pollster for the final results of the 2008 Presidential election.

And he won’t break America.
Obama has pushed us too far.

Must be awfully disappointing to have control of the House, Senate, the White House and most of the media–and Obama still can’t pass cap and trade or health care.
His dream of being like Chavez is proving to be harder than he thought.

Yeah Obama sure is a tough chicago thug, bully.
SO WHEN WILL THE REPORTERS ASK OBAMA ABOUT THE PATIENT DUMPING SCHEME ORCHESTRATED BY HIS WIFE, MICHELLE, HIS ADVISORS, DAVID AXELROD AND VALERIE JARRET, THAT HAS TURNED INTO A MAJOR SCANDAL AT UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO HOSPITAL?
I’ll bet even Jake has been warned off of this one.
I am quite sure the media has gotten their marching orders from bully Obama to stay away from the story, which if it involved a republican would be front page news, outlining all the patients turned away from care, daily for months on end.

“I don’t break”
He doesn’t even bend! Is this the bi-partisan stuff he pleads for? Hey Barry? Al Capone lived in Chi-Town too and he didn’t break either! Look what it got him!!
America is on to you now and your socialist take over of the American Dream!
Uh……Mr. President?
Weebles wooble!!

Timmy . .. .
Never said it was all Bush’s fault. I blamed it on the Republicans too. Willing to include some Democratic influence.
But generally . .. the financial institutions of all kinds were allowed to do whatever they want by ‘deregulation’ conservatives . .. and then the whole house of cards collapsed.
Too much greed allowed to run rampant. It collapsed on itself.

JackSmith,
Instead of railing against those evil republicans, you might want to do some fact checking. Obama doesn’t need them. It’s your own party that can’t come to a consensus! Geez- quit reading Dem Underground etc and pay attention.

“From his earliest days in office, Mr. Bush paired his belief that Americans do best when they own their own home with his conviction that markets do best when let alone.
“He pushed hard to expand homeownership, especially among minorities, an initiative that dovetailed with his ambition to expand the Republican tent — and with the business interests of some of his biggest donors. But his housing policies and hands-off approach to regulation encouraged lax lending standards.”

“Chicago mafia still alive and well”
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Sure, President Obama is ‘mafia’.

from the Chicago Trib
Barack Obama raises $2 million, pushes health-care reform at 2 Chicago fundraisers
Highlights:
Penny Pritzker hosts a get together at her place with a price tag of $15,200/person. Benefits going to DNC.
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“It gets on my nerves,” he said of the opposition. “It frustrates me that we’d even be suggesting the status quo is the best we can do.” (Lily’s note: boo hoo- HIS nerves)
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Obama also said his administration has “reset relations not just with Russia,” but with the world. “Anti-Americanism is no longer fashionable,” he said. (Lily’s note: yes- that reset button in Russia really was a hit, and am I the only one who sees the hilarity in his comments about anti-Americanism? I thought that was all part of his schtick on foreign tours!)
I await the flames of those who worship at the feet of Almighty Barack!

“As early as 2006, top advisers to Mr. Bush dismissed warnings from people inside and outside the White House that housing prices were inflated and that a foreclosure crisis was looming. And when the economy deteriorated, Mr. Bush and his team misdiagnosed the reasons and scope of the downturn; as recently as February, for example, Mr. Bush was still calling it a “rough patch.”
“The result was a series of piecemeal policy prescriptions that lagged behind the escalating crisis.
“There is no question we did not recognize the severity of the problems,” said Al Hubbard, Mr. Bush’s former chief economics adviser, who left the White House in December 2007. “Had we, we would have attacked them.”

“Time to quit looking back and start working on solutions, ones that actually work.”
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It’s being done every day.

“Nice post earlier…”
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Thank you Mike.

“”but nobody else can be blamed for them not seeing it coming, or doing anything to prevent it.”
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Yes Timmy, I stand by this statement. Nobody else can be blamed for Bush and the Republicans not seeing the economic crisis coming, or doing anything to prevent it.
“As early as 2006, top advisers to Mr. Bush dismissed warnings from people inside and outside the White House that housing prices were inflated and that a foreclosure crisis was looming. And when the economy deteriorated, Mr. Bush and his team misdiagnosed the reasons and scope of the downturn; as recently as February, for example, Mr. Bush was still calling it a “rough patch.”
If you’re looking for me to say the Democrats might have shared some blame in the economic crisis . .. sure why not.
“There are plenty of culprits, like lenders who peddled easy credit, consumers who took on mortgages they could not afford and Wall Street chieftains who loaded up on mortgage-backed securities without regard to the risk.”

Bush administration tried to increase regulation of Fannie and Freddie but was blocked by congress. Barney Frank even went as far to say
”These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” ”The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”
Or this from the New York Times
The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.
Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry.
The new agency would have the authority, which now rests with Congress, to set one of the two capital-reserve requirements for the companies.
The plan is an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — which together have issued more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt — is broken.

“Mr. Bush did foresee the danger posed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage finance giants.
“The president spent years pushing a recalcitrant Congress to toughen regulation of the companies, but was unwilling to compromise when his former Treasury secretary wanted to cut a deal.
“And the regulator Mr. Bush chose to oversee them — an old prep school buddy — pronounced the companies sound even as they headed toward insolvency.”
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A political failure on his part.

So congress preventing more regulation on an out of control agency is a political failure for Bush, but Obama not being able to get the support for health care from the Democratic House and Senate is the Republicans fault…right?
You are trying too hard to defend Obama against all logic. I want my government and my country to stop playing political games on both sides.

“Obama not being able to get the support for health care from the Democratic House and Senate is the Republicans fault.”
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Who says Obama won’t get the support of the house and the senate on health care reform? You’re jumping the gun.

He’s not being able to get the support right now. And he’s blaming republicans even though his party owns the government right now. And the press conference didn’t help things. And public support is falling even lower. Are you drinking the red kool-aid or the blue kool-aid?

Right now he is not getting the support. That’s a true statement. But I guess we won’t have an answer as to whether he ever gets support until his term(s) are over.
I’m not wasting any more time arguing with someone who is intellectually dishonest.

“Right now he is not getting the support.”
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What is being worked out right now are the details and amalgamation of various bills.
Could health reform possibly fail? Of course it could. I’m willing to bet it doesn’t.

“The bottom line is he hasn’t gotten the support he was hoping for…even from the very beginning. The man is frustrated and tired of playing “politics” with the folks up in DC.”
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We will see. I believe the support will be there once the various bills have been sorted.
And I believe that President Obama is very aware of the political finesse needed to get things done, and that he is skilled and realistic about it.
If I’m not mistaken, the Recovery and Reinvestment bill required compromises and accommodations in order to get enough senate votes to pass – and this was accomplished.

Have you forgotten that Franks wants to get back to the old way, lending to people who can’t afford it!!!!!!!But maybe that won’t fit into your spin. You also forget that the dem. had the majority for 2YEARS and see what happend. Now on the healthcare reform, our healthcare is just fine, its the insurance that need reforming. And with the plan to safe money in the healthcare industry hope you don’t get cancer or god forbit have a heart attack, a car accident or for that matter aids, or sickle cell anemia , those cost are enormous, so just take a pill and die.

If I’m not mistaken, the Recovery and Reinvestment bill required compromises and accommodations in order to get enough senate votes to pass – and this was accomplished.
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Yeah, and I’m willing to bet that’s why public and Congressional Dem support for health insurance/care reform is stalling.
ERRA was too expensive, not enough results, faulty forecasts, and a huge bill coming due after it’s over. And the Blue Dogs and the public aren’t really ready for another round of the same thing.

Danita, I know this is a strange question unless the world is less random than commonly supposed, but did you have a brother named Stanley, who died a few years ago?

“Bush administration tried to increase regulation of Fannie and Freddie but was blocked by congress”
Who was in charge of Congress then?
Oh yeah….the GOP who never even called for a floor vote on any reform.

So we’re all in agreement that this administration is already a bust and we have to wait out 3+ years to get our man/woman in there.

Bill Clinton on Freddie and Fannie
“I think the responsibility the Democrats have may rest more in resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress or by me when I was President to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”

Uh, 0bama, you weren’t born in Chicago so you’re not FROM there and you are breaking. Slowly but surely and by your own words and actions.

danita: “Political skills are not to be scoffed at.”
When the facts don’t bear you out, I guess political skills are all you have. Although, I’d argue that politics can’t save him from the huge amount of debt he’s amassed.
danita: “. . . but every other industrial nation in the world has instituted a stimulus plan”
The problem isn’t with the stimulus. For example, most conservatives favor tax cuts. The problem is with the massive and unprecedented spending. It was never warranted.
danita: “and you have NO idea of what might have happened without it.”
Yeah we do. In a capitalist economy that is free to work, it would repair itself. It would eventually re-balance out naturally. That’s the beauty of how a capitalist economy works. That’s what we are beginning to see happen now.
Ultimately, Obama failed his own benchmark of keeping unemployment under 8%. Now, he has to admit it will be double-digits by the end of the year. Told you so.

Anonymous . . .
The stimulus plans in place in the other industrial countries of the world include ALL kinds of spending – that you don’t know this again speaks more of your lack of knowledge.

“That’s what we are beginning to see happen now.”
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What you have seen is massive spending by every industrialized nation in order to prevent a complete free fall of the economy – there are no guarantees this will work – but there are signs it is working.
You’re blind faith in the free market is hilarious. You must support how the free market took all those good American jobs to China.
Hilarious!

“You’re blind faith in the free market is hilarious. You must support how the free market took all those good American jobs to China.
Hilarious!”
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danita: “You must support how the free market took all those good American jobs to China”
Was it the free market or unions and government taxation and regulation? America needs to learn to compete in this world economy. Ultimately, I support freedom and the free market.
The market naturally expands and contracts. If we don’t have contractions, we can’t have expansions either. The liberal answer of socialism is a proven failure, so I don’t understand why they continue to favor.

Anonymous . ..
I have read “The Job Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan — Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein — January 9, 2009″
They were very clear that those figures were to be considered rough estimates only AND – to paraphrase them – that their numbers were even less sure due to the unprecedented global nature of the economic crisis.”
And then you have the gall to pretend the President was promising to keep unemployment below 8%.

danita: “have the gall to pretend the President was promising to keep unemployment below 8%.”
I have the gall to cite Obama’s top economic advisers. Those terrible, conservative liars.
If text isn’t your thing, maybe pictures are. Do the following image search:
“The Job Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan” chart
The whole idea of the stimulus was to reduce unemployment. It was conservatives that said the stimulus would only make it increase. We told you so.

Anoymous . ..
You should have read the report better.
Let me quote directly from the report you just directed me to, and claimed to know.
Directly from “The Job Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan — Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein — January 9, 2009″
“It should be understood that all of the estimates presented in this memo are subject to significant margins of error. There is the obvious uncertainty that comes from modeling a hypothetical package rather than the final legislation passed by the Congress. But, there is the more fundamental uncertainty that comes with any estimate of the effects of a program. Our estimates of economic relationships and rules of thumb are derived from historical experience and so will not apply exactly in any given episode. Furthermore, the uncertainty is surely higher than normal now because the current recession is unusual both in its fundamental causes and its severity.”
Any you interpret this as a “promise” to keep unemployment under 8%. You should learn to read, and/or be a little more honest.
By the way, it’s not just you – I’ve seen the other antiObama types use the same hyped up figure. It’s another right wing lie.
You are terrible researchers.

I’m not happy with unemployment here but our unemployment is not related to any companies’ recent move to China

What Obama should do, while in Chicago, is to figure out some way to stop the murders in the City. They have more violent crime that you’d find in Afghanistan.

danita: “. . . you should learn what honesty is”
Honesty acknowledging Obama’s January report that said unemployment would stay below 8% if the stimulus passed. To continue to excuse and deny the report is far from honest. Take your own advice. Also, please cease with the insults, they and you are below me.
“The Job Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan — Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein — January 9, 2009″

Anonymous . . ..
“The President promised unemployment would stay under 8% and it hasn’t.”
This is a lie, the President promised no such thing and the report you cite goes to pains to state the figures they present will have a large margins of error . .. and they go to pains to explain why.
Your attempts to dodge all this again just diminish the Republican right and reveal their inclination to distort the truth for whatever serves their purposes.
Shameful.

taxtrumpet, every news article I googled said the Senator used the workd ‘break.’ “Speaking about health care, Senator DeMint said, “If we are to stop Obama on this, it would be his Waterloo. It will break him.”
It is nice you are thinking positively about the Senator but he is not following your line of thinking.
For years the Republicans have resisted reforming health care and this year isn’t any different. Somehow the almost 47 million Americans who can’t afford health insurance and the 62% of all bankruptcies due to medical bills, (80% of them had insurance) doesn’t faze them a bit. Apparently the people making big money from keeping the lousy system we have, have their ear.

The republicans cannot stop anything the democrats want to pass. Not sure why the focus is on what Demint said is getting all this attention when the democrats can do what ever they like.
No one is against reform, when the obective is to improve the system. What has come out about this bill does not sound like it will be an improvement.
The entire overhaul of a system that covers 200+ million that are mostly satisfied with their coverage for 47 million who can go to any emergency room and get care, seems extreme.
The fact that it has to pass now and won’t go into effect for three years is suspect. What is the rush.

Is “a moral imperative” anything like the “fierce moral urgency” of repealing don’t ask don’t tell?

Obama is either badly misinformed, or lying. Personally, at this point considering how frequently and how long he’s repeated this blatantly misleading if not outright false statistic, I’d strongly suspect the latter. However, Either is pretty dismal for someone in his position. The facts are that LONG TERM UNINSURED in the US are only about 10 to 15 Million, NOT the often quoted 43 to 50 Million. So for less than 4% uninsured, with approximately 89% of all Americans happy with their current health care, the liberal democrats and Obama are pushing totally dismantling our system, and putting 17% of our GDP under government control? Well, ok, about half of that already is with medicare and medicaid, but still…
Besides which, medicare and medicaid have massive problems – remember the whole “they’re going bankrupt” thing? They actually ARE bankrupt, only they draw on general funds to stay afloat. And we want to put MORE medical care under the same control??! Plus, there has been approximately 100 BILLION dollars of medicare/medicaid fraud in the last three years alone. Many doctors, as many as half in some areas, won’t even take new medicare/medicaid patients because the government payments don’t even cover basic costs, let alone any profit. That means that those with private insurance pay MORE in order to make up for those on medicare/medicaid, which drives up all of our premiums.
How about the government fixes some of these very basic problems in the medical systems they already control, before they try biting off massive new obligations, adding huge new tax burdens, killing jobs, killing/outlawing private insurance (YES, THE HOUSE BILL DOES THIS, and the Exchange is NOT private insurance) disrupting all of our lives in the process??
The fact is that almost ALL of the figures that are being used as supposed facts (but are really scare tactics) are similarly flawed.
The health care bill currently being proposed is a massive power grab, and a very very poor way to address health care reform. Huge amounts of money in it don’t even go to health care or insurance issues at all!! It goes to community block grants for things like parks, bike paths, and so on. If communities want those things, then its appropriate for them to be decided on locally, and funded locally, NOT thru a federal “health care reform” bill for heavens sake. Especially in the midsts of a recession, and when there is already a lot of money for those very sorts of things in the pork- er- stimulus package.
There are far better ways to decrease costs, increase coverage of the population, increase portability, etc., that don’t dismantle our incredible system, and don’t cause massive upheaval. They’ve been proposed and the liberal democrats and Obama utterly ignore those suggestions, and then turn around and claim anyone opposing their preferences are just naysayers, obstructionists, party of no, etc etc. Its truly disgusting, beneath the dignity of the respective offices, and in Obama’s case, unpresidential and inexcusable. The president should not be playing partisan politics, attacking private individuals and corporations, setting up and knocking down strawmen, and so on. He is NOT looking out for the people. He’s being a very divisive, partisan, ideologue.

For years the Republicans have resisted reforming health care and this year isn’t any different. Somehow the almost 47 million Americans who can’t afford health insurance and the 62% of all bankruptcies due to medical bills, (80% of them had insurance) doesn’t faze them a bit. Apparently the people making big money from keeping the lousy system we have, have their ear.
Posted by: Lydia | Jul 24, 2009 6:05:56 PM
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Our health care system does have problems, believe me, I know from personal experience. That said, we still have an incredibly GOOD system, and its probably pretty easily the best in the world.
Lydia, your facts are off. I know those numbers are bandied about a lot, but you really need to look into where they come from. The supposed huge number of ‘medical bankruptcies?’ The authors of that report counted anyone who filed bankruptcy with more than $1,000 in medical bills as a part of it, as medically based, even when there were tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands owed that had nothing to do with medical bills, and the medical a very small portion of the amount owed. Its a grossly flawed number.
As to Republicans supposedly always resisting health care reform, try looking up H.R. 3200. Not to mention several health care reform bills submitted by republicans that Obama voted AGAINST when he was a senator, even tho that was a very short time period.
Reform just for the sake of reform is NOT necessarily good – and in this case, the bills being proposed appear to result in far WORSE health care and insurance situations than we currently have. Its called jumpin from the fryin pan into the fire. Or in this case more like from sittin a little close to the fire to jumping right into it.

And Atlas Shrugged . ..
“The President promised unemployment would stay under 8%.”
This is a complete lie. The President PROMISED nothing of the sort.
“He even presented a nifty little chart showing the projected unemployment without the stimulus, and how with it, it wouldn’t go more than a touch over 8%” posted by AtlasShrugged.
The ‘nifty little chart’ you mention is from “The Job Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan — Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein — January 9, 2009″ report – that report SPECIFICALLY STATED THAT IT’S NUMBERS WOULD HAVE A LARGE MARGIN OF ERROR.
That report specifically cautioned against construing the numbers as exact.
These numbers were never PRESENTED as exact, and they were NEVER presented as promises – not by the President and not by anybody else.

Danita, the caveats in the report are moot with regards to what was publicly presented to the American people by Obama and his surrogates. They made the “keep unemployment down around 8%” a huge selling point of the stimulus plan, period. They were wrong. Simple as that.