I haven't posted anything here in ages, but an item I read has me laughing out loud.
So, the president travels outside the Beltway echo chamber to talk about health care reform to an audience in the thousands. And "a half dozen protesters gathered."
Are you freaking kidding me? I thought 85% of people were delighted with their coverage. I thought every thinking person in America knows that health care reform will bankrupt the nation and bring down our society. Wow, I must be listening to too many Members of Congress and op-ed pundits.
I haven't been as pissed off or activist-oriented the past few years, for a number of reasons. I've been tempted to think, "My health care is not so bad," even though it is considerably worse than it was just a few years ago. I've been tempted to accept the conventional wisdom that President Obama is over-reaching on this issue, or that now is not the time to propose major new outlays. I'm not sure jacking the top marginal rates up to 45% is the best way to pay for this reform. (What happened to the idea that health care reform would pay for itself by rooting out inefficiencies in the system?) I've patiently listened to several (healthy, relatively wealthy) friends and family members explain why the present system works great and doesn't need to be changed, etc.
All this to say that when I read this in the Washington Post today, I couldn't believe it:
RALEIGH, N.C., July 29 -- As lawmakers on Capitol Hill announced progress on health-care legislation, President Obama traveled here Wednesday hoping to advance his reform agenda with a sharper message for American consumers about how they to stand to benefit from his plans.
At Broughton High School, where a half-dozen protesters gathered hours before his arrival, Obama held a town hall-style forum to give his sometimes-complicated policy ambitions for health care a more practical edge.
From what I've been hearing, this is supposed to be Obama's Waterloo and the public must just be too ignorant to realize how great they have it. I could only expect that once the president left Washington and went to talk to people outside the Beltway about his fledgling reform proposals, he would be met with at least as many protesters as supporters - people who know good and well that the present system is great and any "reform" would be ruinous.
Of course, this is all anecdotal, but the fact that only six people could be bothered to show up and protest the President's parameters for health care reform makes me think that most Americans, while they may not have a wonkish grasp of the policy issues at play, know that reform is needed. Otherwise, where were all the angry throngs?
Six people showed up to protest. You'd think the insurance lobby would have at least paid a few hundred people to "protest." Six people? I bet if it had been raining, no one would have showed up.