No Way to Treat a President
By Eugene Robinson
Washington Post
Friday, September 11, 2009
Anyone who watched Wednesday night as President Obama explained his health-care reform proposals to Congress saw a chief executive making what sounded like a genuine appeal for bipartisanship -- and his opponents behaving like a bunch of spoiled first-graders. Obama should ignore them, even if they hold their breath until they turn blue.
House Republicans were particularly ostentatious in showing their disrespect not just for Obama but for the office he holds. The outburst by Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina -- who shouted "You lie!" when Obama said his plan would not cover illegal immigrants -- was only the most egregious display of contempt. Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House minority whip, fiddled with his BlackBerry while the commander in chief was speaking. Other Republicans made a show of waving copies of their own alleged reform plan, which isn't really a plan at all.
And Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas waved hand-lettered signs at the president, as if he thought he were attending one of those made-for-television town-hall meetings rather than a solemn gathering of the nation's highest elected officials.
Throughout the speech, there was grumbling, mugging and eye-rolling on the Republican side that was not only undignified but frankly un-American. When I was a correspondent in London, I covered far more raucous sessions of the British House of Commons -- that's how Parliament treats the prime minister, who is the head of government. In the United States, that simply is not how Congress treats the president, who is the head of state.
Congress didn't heckle Lyndon Johnson like that during the Vietnam War or Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal. Congress didn't even show that kind of bitterness and aggression toward George W. Bush, who did lie -- specifically, about the intelligence that his administration relied on to justify an unnecessary war that has cost 4,300 American lives and enough money to fund Obama's health-care proposals for a decade.
Wilson issued a statement of apology after the speech, saying he had "let my emotions get the best of me" and calling his interjection "inappropriate and regrettable." As apologies go, it sounded insincere -- a variant of the "mistakes were made" dodge. In fact, however, the right-wing Republicans in Congress, especially those in the House, are all too sincere. And that's the problem.
Last November's election so wounded the GOP that the nation is now suffering collateral damage. The Republicans who were punished at the polls for the failures of the Bush years were those in the most evenly contested districts, which meant they tended to be relatively moderate. Those who represent solidly Republican districts were safe, and their greatest fear isn't being defeated by a Democrat next fall but being challenged by a primary opponent who's even more of a right-wing yahoo.
There are quite a few Democratic pragmatists in Congress -- which is why health-care reform is being worked over so thoroughly by the Blue Dogs. In the Republican ranks, especially in the House, pragmatists are few and ideologues are legion. Many of them probably believe the nonsense they spout about creeping socialism and an urgent threat to America As We Know It. But it's still nonsense. The ideologues' sincerity just makes this toxic, rejectionist rhetoric more dangerous.
You will note that I have not yet mentioned race. For the record, I suspect that Obama's race leads some of his critics to feel they have permission to deny him the legitimacy, stature and common courtesy that are any president's due. I can't prove this, however. And if I'm right, what's anybody supposed to do about it? There's no way to compel people to search their souls for traces of conscious or unconscious racial bias. We could have an interesting discussion about the historical image of the black man in American society, but that wouldn't get us any closer to universal health care.
What will get us closer, I believe, is the clear, steely resolve that Obama showed the nation Wednesday. His most important line, I thought, came near the beginning: "I am not the first president to take up this cause, but I am determined to be the last."
He told those of us who support a public health insurance option that we might have to settle for something less. He threw Republicans a bone on tort reform. And he drew one bright line in the sand: Throw spitballs all you want, but this will be done.
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Friday, September 11, 2009
Wilson's Battle Cry Part IV
Wilson's Battle Cry Part III
Illegal Immigrants Could Not Buy Insurance on New ‘Exchange,’ White House Says
By David M. HerszenhornThe White House on Friday said it would bar illegal immigrants from purchasing health coverage through a proposed insurance marketplace. But the administration also said that the federal government would continue to require hospitals to provide emergency treatment to illegal immigrants at taxpayer expense.
The question of how illegal immigrants would fare under a proposed overhaul of the health care system came into sharp focus on Wednesday during President Obama’s speech to Congress. Representative Joe Wilson, Republican of South Carolina, shouted “You lie!” when Mr. Obama insisted that his health care overhaul would not insure illegal immigrants.
And the Obama administration’s determination to show that immigrants will not benefit from the health system overhaul highlighted the extraordinary sensitivity to the issue at a time when lawmakers still remain divided over whether the government should pay to provide health coverage for all American citizens.
A White House spokesman, Reid Cherlin, said that the president’s proposals would bar illegal immigrants from purchasing private insurance through the new government marketplace, known as an exchange, and that verification of immigration status would be required for anyone seeking to purchase coverage.
Although Mr. Obama in his speech referred to his “plan,” the White House has not developed a written legislative health care proposal and does not intend to do so, instead relying on committees in Congress, which have drafted several versions of the bill, some running more than 1,000 pages.
Mr. Cherlin said the White House was considering various enforcement options, including the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program, which states now use to prevent illegal immigrants from accessing government aid programs for which they are not eligible.
The White House said that illegal immigrants would still be able to purchase health insurance through the private market, as they can now, but acknowledged that the private market was certain to shrink after the creation of the new marketplace.
Many illegal immigrants must now seek medical treatment in emergency rooms, which by law cannot turn them away. In recent years, the federal government has spent $250 million a year to reimburse hospitals for bills that go unpaid as a result. The White House said those reimbursements would continue.
A draft of the health care legislation approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee would allow illegal immigrants to purchase insurance through the new marketplace, but would bar them from obtaining government subsidies to help low-income individuals and families afford coverage.
Under that House bill, illegal immigrants would not be subject to a new requirement that all Americans purchase health insurance. Some non-citizens legally residing in the United States would be required to purchase health insurance, but they would be barred from obtaining subsidies even if their income were low enough to otherwise meet the eligibility requirements.
Senators who have been negotiating a compromise health care bill in the Senate Finance Committee said on Friday that they were contemplating steps to prevent illegal immigrants from benefiting from the health system overhaul, but some aides said they did not believe lawmakers intended to bar illegal immigrants from purchasing insurance at full cost, through the new exchange or otherwise, should they be able to do so.
The White House position could draw a backlash from advocates for immigrants. link
Wilson's Battle Cry Part II
Wilson's Battle Cry Part I
Congressman Joe Wilson's battle cry woke everyone up when he screamed at President Obama during a speech saying that Obama lied when talking about undocumented immigrants and health care.
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Shout Draws Focus to Illegal-Immigrant Issue
Coverage Question Is Complex, Experts Say, but Less Ominous Than Reform Foes Warn
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 11, 2009
Republican Rep. Joe Wilson's shout of "You lie!" during President Obama's speech Wednesday night brought renewed attention to swirling questions about whether Democratic health-care legislation would extend coverage to illegal immigrants. Although the answer is more complicated than reform proponents acknowledge, it also does not square with the dark warnings of opponents who say the proposals would bring waves of undocumented immigrants into taxpayer-funded plans.
To counter claims that universal health care would cover illegal immigrants, Democrats and independent arbiters have pointed to language in the House legislation that says the federal subsidies, or "affordability credits," that would be the main avenue to expanding coverage would not be available to illegal immigrants.
This language does not assuage the bill's critics, who say the proposals lack the verification tools needed to assure that illegal immigrants do not gain coverage either through federal credits or expanded Medicaid eligibility for the poorest of the uninsured.
House Republicans have proposed amendments to close potential loopholes, but those measures have so far failed in committee. House Democrats say that the stricter rules could prevent eligible people from getting coverage and that eligibility regulations would be drawn up by federal officials. The bill's opponents say such a process would be inadequate.
"The other side appears to be saying, 'Trust us, [the government] will do the right thing.' Well, the trust issue is the core problem in immigration -- the political class is telling the public, 'We'll do the right thing,' and the public doesn't believe them," said Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for stricter immigration policy.
But many tax and social policy experts say the concerns over undocumented immigrants taking advantage of health-care reform are overstated, if not unfounded. The thorniest immigration issue, they say, may be sorting out how subsidies or Medicaid eligibility would work in families with both legal and illegal residents.
"Will some illegal immigrant get [help]? Probably. Will it be this big problem? Probably not," said Gerald Prante, an economist with the nonpartisan Tax Foundation...link to complete WP article