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Tonight’s Obama Presser: More of the Same from the Self-Styled “Agent of Change”

Tonight’s presser was simply more of the same from the self-styled “agent of change” and “post-partisan politician”: Pure politics, unwavering liberal ideology, appallingly transparent scare tactics, demonization of a nameless opposition, and an argument so thick with straw men that the President had better wait until he’s several hundred meters away to light his next cigarette, lest the entire building go up in flames.

Obama’s declaration tonight that the health care overhaul debate is “not about [him],” because he has “great health insurance, and so does every member of Congress” is pure canned comedy.

First of all, the claim that this is “not about” him is laughable on its face, given his accusation that those in his own party who don’t drop their objections to the fact the health overhaul bills currently in Congress will cause costs and deficits to skyrocket while utterly failing to improve coverage and care are “going to destroy [his] presidency.”

Second, everybody knows Obama and Congress have, as the President put it, “great health insurance.” The problem is that the coverage he and his Congressional allies are attempting to foist on the rest of us is far from “great.” If it were on par with what he and Congress are receiving now, then neither Obama nor his Congressional allies would object to Reps. Roy Blunt (R-MO) and John Fleming’s (R-LA) amendments that would automatically disenroll all federal elected officials from the President on down from their current “great health insurance” and replace that insurance with the Democrats’ proposed “public option” — government-run insurance plan — as their sole source of health coverage.

Like the failed “stimulus package,” President Obama is set on imposing his will on both Congress and the American people by ramming through a thousand-plus page bill that would be transformational to our economic system before any — including those expected to vote on it — have had a chance to read through it, let alone assess the proposal’s short- and long-term consequences (both intended and unintended).

The reason for this is clear. Unlike the “stimulus,” the health care overhaul isn’t a case of “not wasting a crisis,” as White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel so bluntly framed the “stimulus” debate earlier this year. Rather, Obama is seeking to shove his health care overhaul through Congress, and to impose it on the American people, as quickly as possible because every day that goes by it — like him — becomes less popular with those who will have to deal with its rules, regulations, and intended and unintended effects.

The fact that a majority of Americans don’t want any part of Obama’s government-centric health care overhaul masquerading as “reform” hasn’t stopped this elected executive or his allies among those who supposedly represent the will of their constituents. Instead, it has made the thin-skinned, hyper-partisan President Obama ratchet up his rhetoric even higher, taking on a full blown “You’re Either With Us or Against America” stance that cannot help but remind Americans of what he really (amazingly) is: the living embodiment of the left’s hated caricature of his predecessor.

COMMENTS

  • NeoKong

    Not just little lies but some whoppers.
    He called all the uninsured ” Americans”.
    He said his plan will be cheaper but better.
    He tried to imply that somewhere else in the world that health care was better.
    He tried to claim his stimulus bill would reduce the deficit.
    He claimed that there were reporters in the closed door meetings and no visitor list was necessary.
    He laughably tried to claim he was creating jobs.

    That was just the first twenty minutes.
    Also, I have to say that those reporters in the room absolutely suck at their job.
    They never called him on anything.

    • marshmom

      because the press knows that if they ask a question that actually makes BO reveal the truth, they’ll be met with pliers and baseball bats when they get to the parking lot.
      Genuine gangster government. If bribes won’t work, they move to threats.

      • NeoKong

        The tone of some of the questions was almost apologetic.
        He took his first question from an AP reporter and he looked like the cowardly lion standing in front of the Mighty Oz. I thought he was going to run down the hallway and jump through a window.
        I bet those who got to ask questions were pre-screened and had their questions approved beforehand. Anyone who made Obama look bad during his info-mercial would regret it later.

  • marshmom

    If you’ve heard him speak once, you’ve heard him one too many times. This guy vomits up more scripted rhetoric than anyone else I’ve ever seen!
    Yes, President Flako, we know you and your comrades have great health insurance, which WE pay for. I didn’t hear a “thank you”, but you’re welcome anyway.
    I truly hope that the American people can see through his (and Nancy Pelosi’s) BS this time and stay educated on what his plan really means for their families and our country.
    This man is a joke, however, his radical agenda is nothing to laugh at. We have no other choice but to put a stop to this insanity before it becomes our reality.

  • DerKrieger

    …has been awfully quiet lately. Is he getting a challenger next year?

  • The_Rebel

    In Arthur Miller’s play, Willy Loman was obsessed with the question of greatness, and his downfall arose from his misconception of himself as someone capable of greatness. This is Obama in spades. Tonight he failed to sell this pig in a poke healthscam to the American people. Like Willy, Obama seems to think that his success will come from being well liked. That myth is quickly evaporating with each new run of the polls.

    • Common_Cents
  • loganyung

    Obama said that doctors were operating on children unecessarily, performing tonsillectomies when a child should have gotten allergy medicine. Pretty arrogant, and a patent admission that government is planning to get between a doctor and his or her patients. Doctors should be frightened.

    He said the police acted stupidly in the Gates case in Boston, when he doesn’t know the facts. The facts that have been released to date, and statements by Gates do not lend themselves to a clear conclusion yet. But, his knee jerk response is to blame the police, just like the liberals knee jerk blame the military.

    • marshmom

      they’ll tell you that 90% of the time they give “unnecessary” treatments because parents push for them even after they are given other options.
      So basically, Obama just told mothers that they are no longer going to be able to choose what treatment their child receives. Not a good move.
      I have no doubt that if Obama has his way, doctors will make less money than janitors. Then who’s going to repay the student loans? Will student loan companies get a bailout when all doctors default on their loans?

    • bk

      A lot of white people voted for the Obama who was going to go beyond racial issues. From what we’ve heard, Gates played a huge race card. Obama knows that doesn’t play well, which is why he threw Rev Wright under the bus. To say a cop is racist because he questioned a person who was reported as breaking into a house is crazy. If some black person DID break into Gates’s house and the cops did nothing out of fear of being called racists, he’d be screaming that the cops were racists because they were happy to see an uppity black guy get robbed!

      • antisocial

        From what I see on this site and what I saw on Hannity’s show on Fox… What I fail to understand is this…. Reporters wasted their time on Gates and jobs and stimulus…. They did not have questions on health care? Wasn’t this press conference about Health care?

        I could not help laughing when Hannity said he gave meandering responses to 11 questions in 55 minutes……

      • Common_Cents

        but retained the content.

  • Kyle-MI

    Didn’t watch the news conference but heard after coverage on the radio. They said that one of his main selling points was that if there was reform it would bankrupt the federal government. Yet, the reform he is proposing is to increase the number of people covered by a government plan without rationing it. How does any of this reduce the costs?

  • bk

    They are seeing through Obama’s lies about medical coverage. And they also know that the Dems have huge control over Congress, so for Obama to whine that Republicans are blocking his wonderful plan couldn’t fool the average fifth grader much less the average voter.

    P.S. Where’s the $2,500 cut in my premiums that Obama promised??

    • avgamerican

      Because by my estimate this guy should have been a sideline spectator long before the election. Im not holding my breath while waiting for the media to start calling Obama on his dissertations. My feeling is that even when people start getting angry the media will turn to spin spin spin. It will actually take a real disaster the media can’t spin for the curtain to come down and by that time it will be too late.

      • bk

        Witness average citizens not just at tea parties, but also recently giving it Cardin, Sebelius, etc. People seem to be starting to wake up and smell the rotten stench.

        • avgamerican

          However, What I’m concerned with is all of the non-disclosure coupled with the 1000 page bills unread (stimulus, Cap n Trade,etc) There is no question of the grab for power. The consequences down the road will be devastating and possibly un reapleable even after the people do wake up. Our economy, our military, everything.

      • IJB

        There could be a (hypothetical) terrorist attack, that the rest of us could trace directly to this Admin’s disastrous policies, and the Press would still bury that fact, and try to ‘rally the rest of us around the flag’ of Pres. Obama.

        I don’t think there is anything that can get 80-90% of the Press to turn on this guy.

        We’re going to have to rely on the 10-20% of the Press that’s more like Jake Tapper – the rest of them will be hopeless no matter what.

        • TallChE

          If certain sections of the press don’t perform their job, then don’t support them by watching. In my house, Newsweek has gone by the wayside this year, after about 20 years of subscriptions. We also happen to be a Nielsen Ratings family this week and we went to extra effort to remember not to watch NBC/CBS/ABC/CNN/MSNBC news shows on any of the TVs. I like to think of it as killing the SOBs one small bite at a time (one fire ant sting normally doesn’t kill you, but a whole swarm can do the trick).

          • antisocial

            The sum of average audience for those networks was 24,682,519 viewers and had a combined household rating of 16.3. The networks carrying the press conference were ABC, CBS, NBC, Univision*, Telemundo*, BBC-A, BET, CNBC, CNN, FOX News Channel, and MSNBC.

            Viewing to last night?s press conference was down 14% from his April 29 press conference and down 50% from his first primetime conference on February 9.

            http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/nielsen-news/obama-prime-time-health-care-press-conference

        • Return to Revolution

          My reasoning is that if the media’s top priority is political activism, even beyond ratings, why would they ever turn on Obama? They would support him even more when he’s down in the polls. That said, there may be just enough of the fair weather fans in the media to actually start caring when their ratings go down.

          As far as not watching them to down the ratings, Frank (at IMAO) put it best: threatening to stop watching would be like threatening to stop bashing my head in with a brick. I can’t stop that which I already don’t do.

          Unfortunately, I think most conservatives have already stopped watching most of the MSM – its the sheeple that need to wake up and thats a bit harder.

  • avgamerican

    You can’t cover everyone without conditions set and controlled by big brother which they know can’t be revealed. And you would have to go to jail to make them reveal it. To reveal it would turn the sheep into the second French Revolution and Obama into another Louis XVI.

    • avgamerican

      The non-disclosure part of Obama’s healthcare reform is rationing to the point of denial of care to elderly or very ill by delayed care leading to their demise. The dems can’t reveal or spell this out because they know it would be the end of their agenda for the next four years.

      • bk

        To some extent, Obama is saying that old people need to die sooner so that illegal aliens can get better health care.

        It’s almost as if he’s saying that, for the good of the country, older Americans need to wither on the vine….

        • bk

          after meeting with the Gaffemeister in Chief last week.

          Keep reminding yourself they are a non-partisan group.

          • eburke

            absolutely stunned!

          • http://impudent.blognation.us/blog kyle8

            second most corrupt political organization after ACORN in America.

          • eburke

            a couple of years ago is sending every solicitation I receive from AARP back to them in their postage paid envelope…..empty.

            Heh…heh!!

          • http://andrightlyso.com/ civil_truth

            I’m not sure if it’s individual favors, such as high positions in the upcoming Obama medical Reich, or whether they think they’ve cut a deal for seniors – which as we know has an expiration date like any other Obama promise.

            So we’re either talking corruption or foolishness.

            Then again, the AARP leadership has been agitating for increasing government involvement in medical care for a long time, so backing Obama is not too much of a stretch.

          • eburke

            their leadership on every issue are all straight down the line big-gov liberals.

            Oh, never mind…you already mentioned foolishness.

            My bad.

  • gonzo55

    battered corpse spotted rolling out from underneath Dear Leader’s bus, the police! Apparently receiving calls that a black man is breaking into a house is insufficient reason to go ask a few questions. I certainly hope the cops in my neighborhood are so “stupid”!

    Also, did anyone else think it was inappropriate for The One to joke about shooting the President?

    • http://impudent.blognation.us/blog kyle8

      about the Obama administration, “Get Under the Bus”

  • jc1305us

    And what we see is a man who intends to force upon you and me a healthcare plan no one wants, no one asked for and no one can pay for! Of course, he dosen’t mind because he and Congress have “Great health insurance!” Well congratulations! So, what you’re saying is, you won’t even enroll yourself or anyone in Congress into your plan?! And not one reporter called him out on this?!
    You can’t make this stuff up folks. Only in America. Oh, also in the Only in America file do we have a black president saying that cops who responded to what can be a very dangerous call (Burglary in progress) are profiling! These two morons BHO and the “professor” see racism in their cheerios. Forget the guy fit the description of a burglary suspect, forget the guy was jimmying the door, forget the guy refused to ID himself. Right! It was those damn racist cops! What a POS!! This bozo’s administration just died on national TV.

  • reaganiterepublicanresistance

    Barack Obama will never -I repeat NEVER- say to your face what he actually plans to do or achieve with these huge new government programs?. like bankrupt the private health insurance industry. Everything?s rolled-out in a trojan horse, and you?re not allowed to look inside or ask any questions. Suffice to say, good-faith disclosure is simply not how this crew operates.

    Rather, you get some calculating and specious oratory with styrofoam props to wow the plebes, like the tacky Greek columns in Denver. To him, the revolutionary ends justify the Alinskyite means- so the Dear Leader just tells you whatever he needs to, he knows what?s best for you anyway.

    And the truth is that Obama is out to nationalize health care.. they?ll be no private insurance industry left after five years of Obamacare? but of course he?s lying about it.

    As for the American public, the reality that Obama is dishonest and out-of-control seems to finally be setting-in; the poll numbers are now headed steadily south- is he already facing his Waterloo on this legislation?

    Looks like it from where I?m standing?

    http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com

    • avgamerican

      are now waking up to what they voted for. Many of them belong to public employee unions and are finding out that universal healthcare means government HMO or worse. Well duh! What did you think it was? I am aghast at the segments in our society who are led by the nose. You think it might be a good time to replay those tapes of top dems shouting no reform of mortgage lending practices that deliberately to the crisis, the bailouts, and the stimulus?

  • Common_Cents

    It’s about redistributing cost, not reducing it.

    Zero even admits it.

    He said he wants a panel to come up with cost savings AFTER we vote for HealthFare. You mean there are no cost saving ideas by our Elected Elite lawyer propeller heads in DC in the 1,018 pages yet?