Breaching the Summit

It is the beginning of the fiscal year for my health insurance company. I can tell because I received my new insurance card. Normally I don’t pay much attention. There have been adjustments in my coverage in the past. This year, however, my co-pay went up fourty-two percent. I suppose it is coincidental that the Health Care Summit is this week also. Somehow it seemed significant enough to draw my attention to the news coverage of this event. Watching CNN, Fox News and MSNBC I can understand why it was called “political theater”. So I turned to the commentary of people that have made a career of observing these events and maybe gain some clarity.

The Christian Science Monitor posted two opinions regarding the President’s showing at the summit. The Monitor’s Editorial Board calls it Obama’s “Clinton moment”. The event was intended to bring Democrats and Republicans together and find a compromise. They feel Obama was successful in deflecting Republican criticism of the program as government take over and diffused their objection of the $1 trillion cost by showing how in ten years the deficit will be reduced by that much according to their plan. Mark Greenbaum, an attorney and freelance writer at the Monitor, also characterized Obama’s performance as successful. This said however, neither feel it will make a difference on it’s own. Though they seem to support the President’s opinion, they say it is a little too late.

The opinion of The Christian Science Monitor and Mark Greembaum both seek to move past the TV drama and find the underlying thread. They target readers who understand the issue yet strive to navigate the miasma of entrenched political opinion. I have to agree with both commentaries. The public is worried about health care costs but they are also inured to the debate and more concerned about just keeping their jobs. With politicians in both parties looking to keep their jobs too, both articles state it is time to work on compromise, take ownership of the problem and just get it done. Though I would love to see our nation’s leaders strive to do what is best for everyone. After all having a healthy population benefits each person in that population...let’s at least move towards a common ground.

Mad Hatter's Tea Party

Like most people it's my nature to avoid confrontational situations. I prefer to spend my time and energy on activities that support my own liberal philosophies. However as an Independent voter it is a responsibility to acknowledge and try to understand differing ideals. With this in mind the Tea Party National Convention caught my attention.

With statements like "America is ready for another revolution" and "Take back America" they sound powerful. But what are they taking back, what needs to be revolutionized? CNN reports on the key note speech by Sarah Palin show she received a standing ovation as she held President Obama's feet to the fire for the economy, the Iraq and Afganistan wars and health care reforms. Palin To Tea Party All issues the current administration did not create. Yet the Official Tea Party web site, 1776 Tea Party, claims as their platform "recapitalizing failed businesses and creating jobs, provide affordable health care and 21st century education" which are all objectives Obama claims. So what are the Tea Party solutions? How will we pay to recapitalize these businesses when they say the free market will prevail? How do we provide affordable health care and not have "socialized medicine"? How do they propose we get out of war yet keep fighting until we win? I can see the power of their anger yet I don't see anything else uniting their movement. No new ideas, no action but tearing down anyone else's attempts. They fear the Republican Party hijacking their movement yet they claim Republican Scott Brown's election as their own victory. Even as Sarah Palin's speech touts the strength of real American's taking action, the founder Dale Roberts calls Palin a turncoat who's "well delivered speech and attractive demeanor is little more than a veneer for her less attractive political philosophy." While I stand by my principle of considering differing points of view I'm still waiting for a cohesive idea from these folks.