OBAMA'S HEALTH CARE PRESSER A DUD

July 22, 2009

I think most of us hope that someone in Washington is trying to do something, we really don't care who steps up at this point. We'll even wipe the slate clean, start anew today. Whatever political party, doesn't matter - ground zero today.

Now, we've heard some pretty disturbing things during Mr. Obama's press conference on health care reform. It's well known that he kind of loves to hear himself talk, but someone should tell him that by droning on and on, he digs lots of holes for himself. This love of self-rhetoric, largely results in ambiguous statements that can be interpreted in a number of ways. And to give the American's the impression that he reads their letters as a way of feeling the pulse of America, well just give me a break.

He seems to underestimate the actual ability of most Americans to think for themselves and to recognize bull shit. If he's reading letters we're in real trouble. Anyone who thinks they can write the President and expect him to actually read it has just rolled out from under a stone or they have a warped understanding of reality.

A couple of examples of this were his reference to exactly what kind of health care could Americans expect from his reforms. He replied that, "... if the proposed treatment won't make you healthier, we won't pay". Does this mean no payment for "prophylactic" treatment that many Americans receive to keep a condition from occurring? If you're a Senior citizen will treatment be withheld if it just keeps you alive?

Ask a hundred people about the intent and I'll wager 95 will say of course you'll be treated to keep a medical condition from reoccurring or possibly occurring due to family history and of course Seniors will receive treatment to keep you alive. Well, let's hope, but you have to see my point. To just listen, it was delivered with great obfuscation that just rattled around in most people's heads.

And what is wrong with the White House Press Corps? They asked him if he and Congress would abide by the reforms and the President totally ignored the question. OK, that's not uncommon, but there's always at least one attempt to follow-up - that didn't happen. With all that's going on in the Country, the Press Corp asks him about the Harvard professor's arrest? Granted, it was a crazy and unwarranted action by the New Haven police and says something about where we are in race relations, but it's not one of the top 50 things that we must quickly address and resolve.

However, I loved his honesty when he said, "Americans haven't seen a lot of laws coming out of Washington lately that will help them out". Fantastic that he actually acknowledges this fact, but why is that the situation? I also liked his statements concerning big banks/brokerages and their apparent inability to recognize that is was their criminal actions that got us into this mess. It's heartening to realize that their complicity is recognized by Mr. Obama. The President also gets a star for saying that the CEO's and top executives (including Board members) of banks, brokerages, insurance companies and the like must wake-up and stop paying themselves obscene amounts of money for failure and criminal activity.

End of new Day 1, we're where we were yesterday, just one day less to deal with the inevitable.