The Five Things I’m Watching For In Obama’s Address to Congress
EmailAs the President lays out his health care plan tonight, here is what I’ll be watching for…
1 – What we learned: Especially about legislative strategy going forward. What lines in the sand will he draw? He repeated to Robin Roberts on Good Morning America today that he won’t sign a bill if it adds any money to the deficit, but how specific will he be about how to pay for it? Has the President entirely given up on Republicans? Will he single any out for praise — or criticism?
2 – What’s new: malpractice reform? Public option with a trigger? Veto threats?
3 – What worked: The tone will be key. Expect more conciliation than we saw at that AFL-CIO picnic Monday. But how much? Will he acknowledge mistakes? Reference the anger that has bubbled up this summer? Attack those who ginned it up, sometimes by spreading smears about his plan? Also, will he connect at a gut level with citizens not convinced he's got a plan that's good for them — and explain his plan in a way that any one watching can easily repeat to their neighbor?
4 – What didn’t: Big question here: will waltzing around public option ("valuable" but not "essential") calm progressives while keeping the door open for a compromise — or just confuse and anger all sides? Will he put death panels, illegal immigrants and government takeover to rest — or open up new lines of attack?
5 – What’s next: Will there be any mention of a timeline? Jake Tapper reported yesterday that he told Pelosi/Reid that “urgency” is key. Does President Obama put forth any kind of calendar for when he would like to see a bill on his desk? Will GOP response suggest any new common ground?
And don’t forget to tune in. I’ll be live with Charlie Gibson on ABC News at 8 pm and through the Republican response. If you can’t be near a TV, you can watch the speech live-streaming here at ABCNews.com/Healthcare.
- George Stephanopoulos
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Is Congress Sounding Dumber?
Any Republican who votes for this is going to be just so much “Dead Meat” on Nov. 2, 2010 and Sen. Lugar is one of them! The Adminstration has just approved an increased defecit to $12 Trillion.
Posted by: Gunrunner | September 9, 2009, 12:33 pm 12:33 pm
I WON’T be watching it with you so that you can keep pandering to the Republicans. You are SOFT, George!
Posted by: Tef | September 9, 2009, 12:59 pm 12:59 pm
Wasn’t his last speech/press conference MAKE or BREAK? Now this one is a MAKE or BREAK speech? What about the next one? Is that gonna be MAKE or BREAK? People are tired of the manufactured hype. The networks might as well not even show it. Nobody but the pundits are going to be watching it anyway. People are tired of hearing the president continuously try to convince people of things they DON’T want. Every time he talks his approval and support for his plan on health care drops exponentially.
You know, once you’ve taken several beatings as a boxer, it sometimes best to just hang up the gloves.
Posted by: WillAnybodyBeWatching? | September 9, 2009, 1:10 pm 1:10 pm
George: “The tone will be key.”
Tone will never get it done. Whether you admit it or not, there are serious, legitimate issues involved and the public is better informed than you apparently realize. Barack can’t answer them without firmly committing himself to a position that will anger some constituency group. He’s the great fence sitter who hides behind “soaring rhetoric”.
Posted by: keys2truth | September 9, 2009, 1:11 pm 1:11 pm
Obama is hot wind bag. He had better not go over his hour—-my family likes watching WIPE OUT, not him.
Posted by: PotatoeGater22 | September 9, 2009, 1:16 pm 1:16 pm
Tone isn’t the issue – honesty is the issue. Credibility is the issue. This administration lacks both. Heck – Blago has more credibility than the Washington gang, including Obama. I predict Obama will do a lot of “best little whorehouse in texas” sidestepping in this speech – as he always does. Remember, this is the President that only voted “Present” in every piece of legislation that came to him when he was a Senator. He doesn’t take a side so that people can’t pin him down to a “for” or “against” on any issue. All of this is catching up with him though at this point, as the sheeple wake up and catch on to him.
Posted by: clr | September 9, 2009, 1:59 pm 1:59 pm
One thing I am not watching for. Snufflupagus’s opinion on anything.
Posted by: Henk | September 9, 2009, 2:07 pm 2:07 pm
Where were all the deficit worried Republicans when GWB was misleading us into his disastrous war of choice in Iraq?
Posted by: sgmorr | September 9, 2009, 2:10 pm 2:10 pm
I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in your opinion and ‘bottom line’, George.
You MSM ‘experts’ just spout trite drivel. It is not ‘main street america’, and it is ‘beltway self-interest garbage’.
There is no such thing as MSM ‘journalism’ which requires checking, digging, contacting, etc. etc.
You Sunday Morning Specialists (ABC, NBC, FOX are headed to the trash pile of history.
Hang it up, George.
Posted by: Lawrence LeGrande | September 9, 2009, 2:16 pm 2:16 pm
This is not make or break for Obama it is make or break for me. So far he has fuzzed up evey bright line between his administration and the Bush administration on the wars, on torture, on war crimes and on transparency of his administration. If he tries to fuzz up the commitment to actually produce a public option I’m breaking from the Democratic Party and registering as an Indedpendent. I’ve had it.
Posted by: afgail | September 9, 2009, 2:21 pm 2:21 pm
I don’t need to be connected with on a gut level, or given a speech that my neighbor can understand. In short, I don’t need to be patronized and neither do my neighbors. I would like the president to explain how he is going to increase the number of people with health care coverage, and include those with serious illness, without increasing the national debt. I want to hear about how he is going to repeal the laws of economics and make everything better, just like that great big sugar Daddy in the sky that you so despise the fundamentalists for believing in.
Posted by: Anon | September 9, 2009, 3:12 pm 3:12 pm
George, how can you hold the President responsible for putting untrue ideas like “death panels” and “illegal immigrants” TO REST?
He has said a hundred times that these ideas are not true, are lies, are not in the bills.
How can he convince people who do NOT want to be convinced, who will NOT believe a word he says, who get their info from and believe Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck?
Good grief — do you want him to perform lobotomies on people? I’ve been to two town halls and the “anti” reform people are so full of misinfo and anger and hatred the there’s no way you or I or Barack Obama can change their minds.
If they have minds.
Posted by: Kathy in CT | September 9, 2009, 3:15 pm 3:15 pm
I was at a town hall meeting too. Everyone was nice and polite. But many were worried about the bill/bills. The number of uninsured does include illegal immigrants, if we go by the 40+ million put out by Democrats. And why wouldn’t Obama want to add them, he wants to make them citizens overnight anyways. If we go by what Obama says, he has contradicted himself at his own town hall meetings. The Wall Street Journal had an article listing his quotes. The bottom line is, how can we trust the government to do a better job and keep it within budget? Sadly, we can’t!!
Posted by: jennifer | September 9, 2009, 3:50 pm 3:50 pm
Good points, George. I am really interested in “What’s next?” How do we move forward from here?
Posted by: According2mark | September 9, 2009, 4:30 pm 4:30 pm
What a tragedy this whole administration has been so far. He is the King of sneaky. Spend money we don’t have (and don’t give anyone a chance to LOOK at what he’s proposing in detail), stuff things down the throat of the majority of Americans who don’t WANT them (he really doesn’t give a damn about the American people” does he) down their throats, take over portions of private industry that the government has no business being intimately a part of … Who IS it he’s serving? (I repeat – SERVING. Our government is not a dictatorship or a monarchy last time I looked. He is neither CZAR nor KING.) He is certainly not serving anyone but himself. Shocker.
And you, George, should be ashamed of your absolute endorsement of whatever that man and his terrible cohorts spout. I have stopped watching ABC altogether – you are not – any one of you, worth listening to. You just regurgitate whatever he wants you to regurgitate. With a smile, no less. Shame on you.
Posted by: Cheri | September 9, 2009, 5:18 pm 5:18 pm
I am astounded at the hate and lies perpetrated by the Republicans. What short memories they have as they and Bush led us into one of the most perilous periods in our history. Cudos to Obama for turning things around this much in his little time. I guess the time of working together for the good of our country is gone. Too bad!
Posted by: Betsy Johnson | September 9, 2009, 6:14 pm 6:14 pm
1. People who worked for insurance company who will be threaten if their employer lost business becasue of reform
2. People who are covered by Medicare who say are not benefiting from reform
3. Congress who are getting contribution from Insurance company
4. People who currently getting health care thru their employer, who may not be benefit from reform
If you belong to any of above interest group ( including “self-interest”), I understand why you opposed health care reform.
What I would like to hear from the rest of those who do NOT have health care now, those will will benefit from reform, if you also oppose to reform, THAT’S what interest me more, and THAT I would like to hear your reason why.
In other words, every people are out there looking for their own interest. When those of you oppose it is really not a logic reason other than “I am NOT getting anything out of the reform, I will disagreed to reform! “
Posted by: commonSense | September 9, 2009, 6:25 pm 6:25 pm
I loved these comments today. Were they what you were expecting today GS?
Posted by: TJSDC | September 9, 2009, 9:44 pm 9:44 pm
PEOPLE HAVE BECOME SO SELFISH. WHY DOES IT ALWAYS HAVE TO BE ABOUT “WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME” IF THIS IS THE ONLY REASON YOU OPPOSE REFORM, THEN YOU ARE SELFISH HOW CAN WE BUILD A STRONGER COUNTRY JUST THINKING ABOUT ME, ME, ME! THE OTHER COUNTRIES ARE LAUGHING AT US ITS EMBARRISING. WE TREAT ANIMALS BETTER THAN PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY. THERE ARE OTHERS WHO REALLY NEED HELP, THEY ARE DYING BECAUSE THEY DON’T HAVE COVERAGE ITS SAD AND I’M EMBARRISHED. I AM EMBARRESED THAT OUR CHILDREN ARE NOT GETTING THE PROPER EDUCATION THEY DESERVE BUT WE PAY ALOT OF MONEY IN TAXES. THE WORKING FAMILIES ARE SUFFERING AND WORKING THEMSELVES TO DEATH JUST TO KEEP FOOD ON THE TABLE, WE CANNOT RAISE OUR OWN CHILDREN BECAUSE WE WORK WORK WORK!! I’M EMBARRISHED BECAUSE OUR CHILDREN ARE IN TROUBLE BUT WE ARE TO BUSY WORKING TO HELP THEM!!! WHAT ARE WE SHOWING THEM GO TO SCHOOL SO YOU CAN WORK LIKE A SLAVE JUST LIKE MOMMY AND DADDY? IM EMBARRISHED BECAUSE THIS IS NOT THE AMERICAN DREAM MOST OF US GREW UP LOOKING FORWARD TO. SO, I AM READY FOR CHANGE AN IF YOUR NOT GET READY BECAUSE ITS COMING AND NOTHING CAN STOP IT THIS TIME. AND I’M GLAD ITS SOMEONE I FEEL I CAN TRUST.
Posted by: ANGIE | September 13, 2009, 1:55 am 1:55 am