As expected, today's health care summit was more political theater. But I didn't expect to find myself agreeing with Senator John McCain of all people. The moment came when McCain sharply criticized the way in which Democrats, especially in the Senate, had proceeded with drafting health care reform legislation through backroom deals that benefited special interests and a select few Americans who were lucky enough to live in a part of the country represented by a member of Congress whose vote was especially sought after. McCain reminded the President that they had both campaigned just a year and a half ago to change this way of legislating, to which Obama (after attempting to interrupt McCain)snapped that he wasn't there to discuss the process, but rather to figure out how to get health care reform passed the way that things really get done in Congress. Obama pointed out to McCain that the election was over, a fact that McCain laughingly acknowledged he was fully aware of.
I'm sick and tired of people, including now the President himself, condescendingly brushing off such criticism by saying that this is merely what all politicians do during election campaigns - i.e., make promises that they know they won't keep, and that we should all just accept that and move on.
Well, I'm afraid that doesn't work in the case of a candidate who presents himself as a reformer by acknowledging that this is just the kind of change that the political system needs, and that the people want. Obama made this specific issue a cornerstone of his campaign and yet, as far as I can see, he has not even attempted to follow through. I believe that Obama never thought he could fix the system and was just telling the American people what they wanted to hear for the sole purpose of winning the election.
That's not what I voted for when I cast my ballot for Obama in both my state's primary and the general election of 2008. In fact, President Obama is an even bigger disappointment than Russia's performance at the Olympics in Vancouver (and don't even get me started on the poor sportsmanship of some of that great nation's athletes!). I was a very cynical and disenchanted voter in 2008. I made a deliberate decision to participate in that year's election because I wanted to do something to help our country. I believed Obama then. Now he's just the latest establishment politician to confirm that the kind of change that Obama promised in 2008 will never come about from leaders elected within the parameters of the current broken system. A more radical initiative from the collective will of the American people is the only way that that level of change can be brought about.
This was a very unflattering exchange that the President had with his former campaign rival. For my part, it probably cost Obama my vote should he run for re-election in 2012.