President Obama recently took his case for health care reform before Congress and the American people. He didn’t make the sale.

The president was eloquent, as always, when he spoke about the plight of those who lack health insurance. But the address lacked details about specific aspects of health care reform that are matters of great concern to Americans. Among these are the cost of reform and how the president intends to pay for it.

President Obama referred repeatedly to “my plan.” But, in fact, the president has no plan — at least, not one he has made available to the public. There are three major reform packages before Congress — one in the House, two in the Senate — that are attracting the most public attention. The president has, from time to time over the last several months, expressed approval for elements of all three. But none of them could be described accurately as “his plan.”

President Obama decried the presence of politics in the debate over health care reform — then went on just a few moments later to say some opponents of reform were spreading lies and falsehoods.

The president and supporters of health care reform are proposing a rewrite of laws affecting one-sixth of the American economy. It is not mere partisanship that drives either support or opposition to reform. These are fundamental differences of belief about the ways economics and government work.

President Obama said “the time for bickering is over.” But if we cannot have political disagreement about a change of this magnitude, what is there left to discuss?

The president too easily glosses over some of the real concerns Americans have about elements of reform.

President Obama said that, for Americans who have health insurance through their employers, “nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have.” He even repeated the statement, as if we were all a bit too dim to get the point the first time.

The president’s statement is literally true: There is nothing in the plan that requires anyone to change the coverage he or she has.

But the president neglected to tell Americans that the plans before Congress include a mix of rules, regulations and incentives that surely will result in some employers dropping their health insurance coverage, leaving employees at the mercy of whatever government insurance option is available.

President Obama said that the reform package he favors will not provide insurance to illegal aliens. He neglected to tell Americans that Democrats in a House committee rejected a Republican amendment that would have required verification of citizenship before a person receives government-funded health insurance.

President Obama said he won’t sign any bill that adds one dime to the federal deficit. Much of his proposal, estimated to cost some $900 billion over 10 years, can be funded by eliminating waste and fraud and improving efficiency in the existing health care system.

But Americans have learned, through bitter experience, that government cannot be relied upon to realize those savings. Government is a haven for waste, fraud and inefficiency.

President Obama cannot simply will health care reform into being. He has to convince the American people his plan is right for the country.

So far, he hasn’t done it.

— Editorial by The Eagle-Tribune of North Andover, Mass.



Heckler at presidential

speech sets bad example

Decorum and respect. These qualities seem to be increasingly lacking as this new century speeds along.

Parents and peers pass along behavior mannerisms and attitudes to children. And as the years have passed, we’ve all noticed the lack of respect in just about all age groups.

From road rage to playground bullying, the signs are everywhere. We just can’t seem to get along.

The drop in decorum was visibly illustrated during President Barack Obama’s recent address to Congress.

A South Carolina U.S. representative yelled out, “You lie,” while Obama was talking.

Talk about a lack of respect.

Talk about violating U.S. House of Representatives rules.

Talk about being a jerk.

This guy — Joe Wilson — is an elected representative of South Carolina. Please tell me most of his constituents feel ashamed about his outburst.

There is no excuse for it. The President of the United States was talking, for crying out loud, during a nationally televised event in a House filled with elected U.S. representatives and senators. It was a government chamber, the House of our democracy.

Freedom of speech is a cornerstone of democracy. But, there is a time and place for everything.

We want our elected officials to agree or disagree with legislative issues and presidential mandates. Those remarks need to be made as bills are being debated.

Freedom of speech also means that everyone has that freedom, and it is up to us to respect that. You have your say. Then shut up while the other person has his or her say.

To heckle the leader of the free world who is some nine months into his new job during a joint, televised gathering of elected senators and representatives is deplorable.

Can you imagine the outcry if such an outburst had been made when President George Bush was speaking at such an event. He was more or less given a “let’s hope for the best” first nine months of his presidency, and then Sept. 11, 2001, happened, and Bush enjoyed great esteem those first few months after that tragedy.

The vicious things now being said and aired and blogged and twittered about Obama in recent weeks show how low some Americans have stooped.

Somewhere along the way, these people have not only lost a sense of decency, respect and decorum. They have forgotten how to be kind.

— Editorial by the Ottumwa Courier of Ottumwa, Iowa.