But yeah, I actually got to say hello. I can't remember exactly what I said but it was something like: "Mr. President, thank you for everything you're doing. You're doing a great job, keep it up." I was in the 2nd row during the speech so I was able to get up to the barrier as soon as it ended and so it was like being in a receiving line, except he walked it instead of us going to him.
The town hall was on health care reform and before I went my view was that I agreed with Obama on the general philosophy of where to take health care reform, but I had no clue on the specifics. During the town hall he explained everything very well and I totally support what he's doing. I personally am the type of person that likes the UK and France and other European country models with a more universal health care system. Sadly that is not Obama's plan but I understand why he isn't doing it. Overall that's just impossible to get in the USA right now.
His approach is a very middle of the road one. I find it hard to believe that anyone other than extremists would be upset with this plan. And that's who is upset, the extremists on both sides. The far left uber liberals are all in an uproar cause they don't want anything less than a single payer system, while the far right uber conservatives hate any government involvement and overall just hate/fear Obama so therefore automatically hate anything he wants to do.
And the funny thing is that the news is only focusing on the BS rumors and lies of the "Death Panels" and the Public Option. That's it. And they're twisting both of those things to try and scare people. They use the death panels to scare people into thinking the government is gonna kill your grandparents, and they twist the public option and try to say that it is a government takeover of health care. Total bullshit. There are no death panels and the public option is just that, AN OPTION! Why have it? to help add competition to the market and bring down costs. Basic economics.
But there's lots of other good stuff in there, like removing these lifetime caps and banning insurance companies for discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions. There's a lot of things he's doing that will help protect those of us with private health insurance and lower our rates. But no one knows about that due to the media focusing on the drama and the extremists on both sides.
I really hope that this passes because this bill is full of important things that we need ASAP. It isn't perfect but it's a great first step. And once it passes we can work on improving health care even more. But if it fails no politician will be willing to touch health care for a long time because it will be political suicide. This is far too important to let it fail.
0 votes
InnovativeYogis.com
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dahornnn United Kingdom. Aug 18 2009 15:48. Posts 693
lol at ur last pic in spoiler
HI ITS ME............ oh and barack
:D
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matdon460 United States. Aug 18 2009 15:53. Posts 1089
sweet pics. he gave a stump speech at mizzou and the closest I got was the other side of the quad.
On August 18 2009 14:48 dahornnn wrote:
lol at ur last pic in spoiler
HI ITS ME............ oh and barack
:D
That was such a sick shot to take. That was me holding the camera out and hoping that when I took it with 1 hand Obama would be in it. I can't believe how well it came out, hahaha
InnovativeYogis.com
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dogmeat Czech Republic. Aug 18 2009 16:15. Posts 6374
The healthcare reform in the U.S that "Obama" is explaining now - I put it in "" cause I don't think he has any power, whatsoever over any evident change that might occur in the U.S.
Anyways, the healthcare reform just isn't in line with Americans, their ( your) values and so on...
The U.S is a culture highly skewed towards individualism. Americans are proud to take care of themselves, to pay for their own debts ( with chinese money ), and in general to achieve goals individually. The whole healthcare plan isn't in line with the american philosophy. It's more colletivistic and social - and that's what americans don't like ( and are too in debt too have in anyways).
From 65% to 45% for Obama... this whole healtcare plan is a failed PR.
On August 18 2009 15:31 TremendousGats wrote:
were you searched before you went in the town hall ?
Barely. Just a metal detector and searching of bags. I guess they have a lot of faith in those front line secret service people to protect the prez cause it doesn't look like it would be that hard to get a weapon in to one of these things. Scary =
And @ qyvs, I think you have an overall good but sad point. There is a lot of american philosophy of take care of yourself first and fuck everyone else. It's not the only view here but a lot of people do have it. BUT the health care plan is NOT socialistic, that's just the media twisting. The only "socialistic" thing is the public option, which isn't even socialistic.
I haven't looked into it very much so I can't be debating about it however, if americans voted for "CHANGE", and now when those changes are coming they show up with guns, and Obama's ratings are dropping it's not a good sign.
I like for example swedish system, but sweden is kinda capitalism-socialism mix.
On August 18 2009 19:59 egood wrote:
Congress will raise the debt ceiling most likely.
Can they raise my debt celling too? Cause I wanna get a A380 and furnish it. I think its good to have it around just in case I wanna travel.
In US everyone is happy as long as all the prices are rising. Unless its crude oil - Marc Faber
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terrybunny19240 United States. Aug 18 2009 21:50. Posts 13829
sweet
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curtinsea United States. Aug 19 2009 01:13. Posts 576
It's not real reform, it's a tax and spend package under the guise of helping the poor and helpless. It's the same bunch of nonsense always coming from the Democrats in America. Sadly, it's their turn, to waste our time and money on ineffective initiatives. And don't jump to the conclusion that I think the bullshit coming from the American Republicans is anything more than that, because I don't.
This is an all or nothing type of deal. If we want our government to provide healthcare to Americans (it can, if that's what we want, let's decide that, then argue how we go about getting there), then that is what we should have. Insurance is the problem, not the solution. Tweaking insurance regulations will only drive the costs up, and anyone who believes otherwise is naive.
I personally am against what is being debated about right now, not because of the nonsensical arguments made by the right, but because insurance is the problem not the solution. If we are going to do anything, we should go single payer. That is truly the only way to contain costs. Provide for the health of our citizens, just as we provide for defense, for police, for fire, for rescue. But, what that means is the end of an industry, the loss of thousands of jobs, the loss of revenues from the taxes provided from that industry, so there is a cost. Those things can be worked out in committee.
But what is going on in Washington today is not change, it's not new, it's business as usual in the body politic of the United States.
We need to change the way elections are run in America, because the parties have too much invested in their own power. A stronger primary system, in my opinion, is where the answer lies. You see, a democratic senator from my state (WA) is not accountable, because the alternative is a republican. Primary competition is squashed by the party, so voters are left with the choice between an ineffective representative and another with a completely different point of view. But now we have a 'top two' primary in our state where more than likely the democrat will face another democrat at general election time. Both parties hate it, I hope you can see why.
The funny thing about health care reform Cap is that one of the major intentions is to lower costs. The U.S. is already paying through the nose for health care. Loads more than most other countries with the universal model if not all of them. The universal model works better for the majority of citizens and it costs less.
The argument that there is some sort of option to keep doing what the U.S. is doing in terms of health care is ridiculous. The current cost of health care is already skyrocketing and the insurance companies more or less shit on their clients because their are so many ways for them to do so by refusing to pay claims etc.
As a Canadian I can't even imagine what it would be like to have to argue with my insurance company to make sure I can pay for my health care. Fuck that stress. We and every other country with universal care on this planet would revolt and burn down government if they ever even considered trying to take away universal care. Its hilarious that people are afraid of such a good thing.
insurance companies are a major fault in america right now.
i'm a pretty economically conservative person, but as it is right now insurance companies are not in the best interest of the american people. i think socialized health care is only common sense.
americas view on health care right now is about in line with their inability to convert to metric. it just makes no sense and people are stuck in their ways.
i'm all for the free market, we need to get rid of public schools etc. but this private health care industry is killing us, literally.
On September 08 2008 10:07 Baal wrote: my head is a gyroscope, your argument is invalid
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Sweden. Aug 18 2009 16:30. Posts 4472
however, if americans voted for "CHANGE", and now when those changes are coming they show up with guns, and Obama's ratings are dropping it's not a good sign.
