Barack Obama was interviewed tonight on 60 Minutes by Steve Kroft. This little nugget had been previewed in pre-interview press hype. Obama states that he will be held accountable by voters if health care restructuring fails, but in fact just the opposite is true:
I have no interest in having a bill get passed that fails. That doesn’t work. You know, I intend to be President for a while, and once this bill passes, I own it. And if people look and say, “You know what? This hasn’t reduced my costs. My premiums are still going up 25 percent, insurance companies are still jerking me around,” I’m the one who’s going to be held responsible. So I have every incentive to get this right.
Kroft immediately went on to another topic. Was Kroft even listening? Didn’t he know that as good as this statement by Obama sounded, it actually made no sense at all?
The new health care plans and restructuring will not take place until after the 2012 Presidential election. Obama will go into the 2012 election without anyone having experienced directly the impact of his plans. Obama will not be eligible to run again in 2016, regardless of whether he is held “accountable” for ruining our health care system.
If Obama’s motivation is to be “President for a while” as he says, then the ultimate success or failure of the health care restructuring plans will have absolutely no impact.
We, not Obama, will be held accountable for Obama’s failure and our own mass delusion.
The mainstream media still is too smitten to care.
UPDATE: Commenter Melanie asks why the new plans don’t take effect until after 2012. Here is the explanation given by Obamacare supporter Ezra Klein:
Most of the major provisions in the House’s health-care reform bill begin in 2013….The slow start is a way of holding down costs in the 10-year budget window. If the bill begins in 2010, but the subsidies don’t kick in until 2013, then that’s three years that are under the budget but aren’t costing much money. That means the new health-care system can really cost an average of $140 billion each year, as opposed to $100 billion, and that means you can afford a better system.
It’s just a budget game so Obama can keep the 10-year cost (which is the time frame used in these budget estimates) down, since there really are only 6 years of costs build into the 10 year projection, but 10 years of tax revenue. Of course, Klein doesn’t understand that this doesn’t mean you “can afford a better system,” it means you are putting yourself into the same situation as homeowners who take mortgages that are fixed artifically low for a short time then revert back to higher rates. And we know how that worked out.
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Comments
Funny, I had this exact conversation with my wife this evening. What exactly will the President be owning? Apparently the "exciting" lead into socialized healthcare as a major campaign talking point, describing "things I got done".
The "President for awhile" comment bothers me. Maybe there will be no 2012 elections, or armed Black Panther's at the polling places, or electronic rigging of the votes.
And with the majority in both houses, maybe the two term limit will be repealed. The love struck media will do their best to convince us that it is a wonderful thing to keep the Chosen One in office indefinately.
It should be no mystery why Obama wants the health care legislation passed post haste, or why it will sit wating to go into effect until after his reelection.
Obama said in his recent speech that he wants to wait until 2013 to implement his plan so that he can "get it right". But this is nonsense…it makes much more sense to get the legislation right BEFORE the bill is passed.
The media have completely failed in their responsibility to examine this issue. Conservatives should be hitting it hard.
Damn!
Gee, I believed that Dear Leader was really sincere about his "Trust me, I personally guarantee it will work the way I say" reassurance.
I figured he would demonstrate his rock-solid conviction that Health Care Reform would work as stated by personally taking out a $6-Trillion-dollar performance bond extending 10 years (using his own money, probably book advances, to finance the bond).
You mean he's not?
Well, damn…
It's funny you posted on this. I am working through a theory right now on my site that Obama isn't the leader of the movement at all.
At first I thought he was running the show, or at least in the top tier of the movement. However, his actions now make me wonder if he was picked, polished and presented by other people in order to get someone in the Oval office which would follow their agenda.
They missed with Kerry (too arrogant and too stupid for mainstream America to accept) but hit the jackpot with Obama.
I think Obama's job is to present a good front, lie and confuse the public while the groups behind the scenes work their magic. In return, he gets to be what every narcissist dreams of, being President of the United States. Oh and of course, becoming insanely rich in the process.
Visit my site and offer your input, it will be well received. Right now it is a work in progress.
http://www.truthandcommonsense.com
Obama also opened with something to the effect of "there are Republicans who want this bill to fail for political reasons"…
Well, back when he was pushing for August 1st and clearly didn't understand his own bill, what was his motivation?
Well, duh. Obama-speak we can; Obama-speak we will!
Could you explain why "The new health care plans and restructuring will not take place until after the 2012 Presidential election."
@Melanie, I have answered your question in an update.
You may draw one Attaboy with Discernment Clusters from the Praise Shack for picking up on that.