Obama Wants Public 'Question Time'-Like Session With Republicans On Health Care

The New Republic:

At a fundraiser last night, President Obama laid out his vision for health care reform. This is interesting:

Mr. Obama said that once Congressional Democrats had worked out their differences and settled on a final bill, he would push for a vibrant, public debate over the health care legislation. He said he planned "to call on our Republican friends to present their ideas."

Read the whole story: The New Republic

Comments

[Countdown09]

02:49 PM on 02/08/2010

I so hope he's successful in getting this show down. Give the President another opportunity to cut through the republican bull. They claim they have a plan that's better than his, then PROVE IT !

[edayres]

02:16 PM on 02/08/2010

Might be a good way to answer the lack of transparency arguments, and to force Republicans to have their ideas, if there are any, to be debated publicly for a change.

[Tribal Knowledge]

10:21 AM on 02/08/2010

WOW!

Colossal. Amazing. He is going to have a Town Hall Meeting? THAT'S his big new idea?

Can we get down to governingl, and not just campaigning? You do campaigns well, Mr. President.. We are still waiting for you to lead.

[igotthis]

11:16 AM on 02/08/2010

This is governing; this is leading! A good leader makes things happen, and a good political leader uses good political strategies to make things happen. This is brilliant political strategizing! First, the president is announcing to the whole nation that he has not given up on HCR. Second, he forces the Republicans to react one way or the other to his very reasonable proposal to engage in a televised negotiation session on HCR legislation, which is something the majority of Americans (minus Republicans) want to see. Third, he forces the American public to see how irrational Republicans are on HCR. Fourth, he forces Congressional Democrats to redouble their efforts to pass HCR legislation. Fifth, and this is the real objective of his new governing and leadership strategy, he gets an HCR bill passed. This is brilliant!

[batmancw]

10:09 AM on 02/08/2010

I'd LOVE to see that. After all, it was the lack of info about exactly WHAT was in the Bill & the bribes and deals that came to light that turned many people against this particular Bill. We'd ALL like to have TRUE reform, so let's get this Bill totally out in the open, and see if something could be salvaged.

[windup]

09:32 AM on 02/08/2010

I'd like that. I'd love to see the Repubs defend their support of nothing (except corporate interest) on TV.

[ElCapitan]

02:37 PM on 02/07/2010

So lets see. Obama want congress to finalize a bill first, THEN has a discussion on the bill. O.K. so then this is just a marketing ploy. Obama said he wants "to sit down with both parties, and health care experts and walk through the details" Soooo they're going to put together a bill that give insurance companies a forced, and subsidized customer base, little to no price control, and guaranteed profits, then they are going to put on a dog and pony show to sell it. Well unless there are single payer advocates on this "debate" then this is just a corporate sales job done by a corporate president from a corporate party.

[Tribal Knowledge]

10:24 AM on 02/08/2010

I am so with you.

[thestargazer]

01:43 PM on 02/07/2010

What is all of this theatre for? Sure do have a lot of question time but now action of any kind.

Talking isn't going to cut it any longer.....Get to work!

[igotthis]

10:48 AM on 02/08/2010

You lack imagination and insight on this issue. This is potent "action" on the president's part. I advise you to look at the president's recent overtures and comments on HCR like a chess player. Even subtle moves can lead to a checkmate of your opponent. The president has been using some subtle but very shrewd moves on Republicans since his SOTU address. Believe me, they are about to be checkmated on HCR, and they don't even know it.

[livinreality]

12:49 PM on 02/07/2010

Demagogue: one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots: -H.L. Menckena

[alenaspoppa]

11:14 AM on 02/08/2010

Sounds like the Republican strategy for firing up their base.

[jerryatthebeach]

07:54 AM on 02/07/2010

How about a National election to see if " We the People" want it???

[kdp59]

08:55 AM on 02/07/2010

already did that it was

53% Obama

47% McCain/Palin

Remember?

or has old age and Single-payer medicare wrecked havoc with your brain cells?

[igotthis]

11:19 AM on 02/08/2010

Precisely!

[HST]

04:09 AM on 02/07/2010

If the republicants agree to this somebody better bring a bucket, cause Obama's going to mop the floor with them.

[Manx]

03:07 AM on 02/07/2010

Obama has already wasted a year wooing Republicans like Grassley, Snowe and Collins and it got him nowhere. If Obama's strategy is to expose Republicans as the obstructionists that they are, most thinking people have already reached that conclusion. Prolonging the debate could backfire inasmuch as many people are burnt out on the ugliness of the process, including the misinformation exploited by Republicans, the horse trading, the acrimony and secret backroom deals with insurance companies and big pharma.

[Elbrando]

10:09 PM on 02/06/2010

This is the president's strength. Getting the people on his side, by using logical arguments based in reality. The republicants should be scared and I wouldn't be surprised if they chicken out of this.

[Unlackey]

12:53 AM on 02/07/2010

Of course they will! In typical sensational fashion.

Makes u wonder though, how others are swayed and wholly buy into the illogical spin presented to them by the GOP and their affiliate outlets - including Fox News.

[igotthis]

10:33 AM on 02/08/2010

You're right! They are already spewing out "illogical spin" on the president's overture to have a televised negotiation with them and Democratic leaders to resolve and finalize issues on HCR. However, this time the people will make them pay for their irrational obstructionism. The president is about to checkmate them on this issue, whether they agree or refuse to agree on meeting with him in a televised negotiation session. President Obama is betting that what people really want is clarity and a bit of bipartisanship on HCR, not some lame and irrational excuse to terminate the whole issue. I am really enjoying the president's new style of reasoned, confrontational leadership.

[Janine547]

08:29 PM on 02/06/2010

Dear mr............uh, president,

There is a great deal of evidence if you believe in polls to tell you that your face is becoming a daily abhorrence and that constant repetition that you spout as you consistently read from your teleprompter is not just booring but just chocked full of fallacy, half truth and outright lies. In other words as a saleman of snake oil you are a master, as one who needs to polish up on truth, integrity and promised transparency, to put it bluntly,"YOU suck".

The country will little remember the backroom, in your face clown act that the Donkey Party has managed to put on display for all to see, the small amount of credibility that the party may have had has been squandered by their own dishonest means of politic and your big mouth. This can and will be around in record, video and memory for many years to come to remind all what a liberal can do to take a bad situation and make it even worse and how free market and capitalism can and will overcome the socialistic tendencies of the weak minded and the feint of heart.

Your own actions of legal restraint and failure to comply with ordinary campaign law has put you at risk, if you have the means to dispute the allegations of your birth, please do so ASAP, if you cannot or will not then how about manning up and just getting the hell off the stage.

[NatalieOnline]

08:33 PM on 02/06/2010

Brav-O!

[alenaspoppa]

11:18 AM on 02/08/2010

I hope "NatalieintheReal World" is smarter than "NatalieOnline," because the online version appears to be (barely) functionally illiterate.

[Elbrando]

10:06 PM on 02/06/2010

Dear Janine

In response to your comments, I have decided to call medical professionals to help you with your obvious mental health issues. Your lack of ability to distinguish reality from republicanism is as blatant as it is paranoid.

By reading the article, you would have realized that having a public forum is the exact opposite of "back-room deals". Your inability to offer the smallest proof to the plethora posterior-like piles of poppycock showcases your delusional state.

Ironically, no long term care is available for you as this entry has demonstrated your mental health status and your insurance company has promptly dropped you for a pre-existing condition. Hopefully you will beable to find the medications you need to reverse this awful malady you are currently suffering.

God Bless you and God Bless America
(You're going to need it).

[Janine547]

10:40 PM on 02/06/2010

Yawns !

[igotthis]

11:20 AM on 02/08/2010

Bravo, Elbrando!

[MyTake]

05:38 PM on 02/06/2010

Come now, Mr. Prez, this chit-chat for media consumption is called POLL bumping which would be like FIST bumping images.

If you could bump a few GOP FIST's of hand picked Republicans, then you could lay claim to one of your premier campaign promises of CHANGING how Washington works. So, someone REPLACED your TELEPROMPTER with the LECTERN to get you away from the side-to-side head flapping which has been dropping your poll numbers.

Some of us know that your first GOP chit-chat was both STAGED and SCRIPTED by a Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) committee. This powerful organization does not want a badly fractured Congress or Senate hovering over your last two years because it will interfere with their (and yours) agenda for further bankrupting America. So lets do some crafty CAMERA work and get you off that year long teleprompter technique which isn't working.

And since CFR hand picked those GOP stoooges, that are on the hook to them, no doubt this second chit-chat would be also.

This is a CFR dream. Stage manage these quick hitting events, see where the TV audience was heaviest and then go in with their PRIVATE pollsters to see if there was a BOUNCE. If there was, let's do it again and milk it till the polls start to rise.

Only there was no BOUNCE and the voter's are angry.

So let the Games of the Mid-Term Olympics begin!

[igotthis]

11:22 AM on 02/08/2010

LOL! You're simply scared!

[larmarch5]

03:51 PM on 02/06/2010

Well, let's just call premiums we pay to insurance companies taxes, identify the amount of our local and state taxes that go to community and state hospitals and other public health initiatives, and itemize the of bankruptcies filed due to unpaid medical bills.