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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alighieri who wrote (556372)	3/22/2010 11:58:49 AM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1577078

THEY PASSED THE DAMN BILL.... There's a temptation, the morning after an extraordinary event, to try to capture What It All Means with something resembling insight. But when dealing with success on health care reform, and a historic victory a century in the making, where does one begin? Perhaps with the expectations of Nov. 4, 2008. There was a sense among many when Barack Obama won a sweeping election victory that big things were not only possible, but in fact likely to happen. This was going to be a special time to bring about long-overdue change. But as 2009 progressed, it wasn't just cynics who started to wonder if change is even possible anymore. Indeed, it was hard to miss an emerging pattern -- a progressive idea is proposed, the right reflexively rejects it, corporate interests scare the gullible, the media ignores the substance, th debate becomes overwhelmed by falsehoods and confusion, the public sours, Democrats grow frightened and fractured, and the idea dies. Introduction leads to demagoguery leads to failure. Lather, rinse, repeat. In this sense, the debate stopped being simply about health care quite a while ago. If the recipe had been written on how to kill anything of significance, then it was easy to suspect that we might never see social reform on a grand scale again. Ever. And just when it seemed our political system would be limited indefinitely to playing small-ball, something interesting happened. President Obama decided to keep fighting. Speaker Pelosi decided to keep fighting. Americans who elected a Democratic majority decided they weren't going to be satisfied with failure, and they got to work. In a result that was hard to even imagine two months ago, they won, delivering the change America needs, and delivering a brutal setback for those who demanded failure. Paul Krugman noted: This is, of course, a political victory for President Obama, and a triumph for Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker. But it is also a victory for America's soul. In the end, a vicious, unprincipled fear offensive failed to block reform. This time, fear struck out. Given fear's long winning streak, that's no small feat, especially on a scale so grand. It's generally wise to not exaggerate current events in a historical context, but I don't think it's hyperbole to compare this breakthrough to passage of American bedrocks like Social Security and Medicare. The health care reform bill represents a towering legislative accomplishment and a transformational moment. President Obama told Americans last night, "In the end, what this day represents is another stone firmly laid in the foundation of the American Dream. Tonight, we answered the call of history as so many generations of Americans have before us. When faced with crisis, we did not shrink from our challenge -- we overcame it. We did not avoid our responsibility -- we embraced it. We did not fear our future -- we shaped it." And the nation, its people, and its future are better for it. Cherish this moment; they don't come often.

To: Alighieri who wrote (556372)	3/22/2010 12:44:35 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1577078

Now the Dems have gone and done it. McCain and the Rs are really mad. It gets real scary when the Rs get mad......I don't like it. Can we take it all back? WHATEVER HAPPENED TO 'COUNTRY FIRST'?.... The morning after a historic Democratic victory on health care reform, several media outlets asked the question tens of people nationwide wanted the answer to: what does John McCain think about the legislation he doesn't understand and had nothing to do with? For his part, the Arizona Republican said he and his GOP colleagues will no longer want to work constructively with Senate Democrats. Democrats shouldn't expect much cooperation from Republicans the rest of this year, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) warned Monday. [...] "There will be no cooperation for the rest of the year," McCain said during an interview Monday on an Arizona radio affiliate. "They have poisoned the well in what they've done and how they've done it." This is just sad. To hear McCain tell it, Democrats hurt Republicans' feelings, so Republicans don't want to do any more work. I'm not quite sure how this would be any different from how McCain has been conducting himself all along. Despite repeated attempts at outreach from Democrats, the confused Arizona senator has refused to cooperate on any issue. Now we're going to see McCain fold his arms, pout, and refuse to play nice? Sounds like more of the same. But it's this notion that Dems "poisoned the well" that's especially foolish. Democrats ran on a platform of reforming the health care system, got elected, and then went about fulfilling their campaign promises. They tried to work with the GOP, which deliberately chose to ignore the outreach. Left with no alternative, Dems proceeded on their own, and achieved a breakthrough success. For that, McCain believes Dems should be punished ... with more obstructionism. McCain's sense of duty and responsibility -- I seem to recall a "country first" slogan being used not long ago -- has become a punch-line. If he's decided not to do any work for the rest of the year, why doesn't McCain just forgo his paycheck and stop showing up for work?

To: Alighieri who wrote (556372)	3/23/2010 6:06:51 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1577078

The most powerful quote of the day: "Despite his illness, Senator Kennedy made a forceful appearance at the Democratic convention in Denver, exhorting his party to victory and declaring that the fight for universal health insurance had been "the cause of my life.'' He pursued that cause vigorously, and even as his health declined, he spent days reaching out to colleagues to win support for a sweeping overhaul; when members of Obama's administration questioned the president's decision to spend so much political capital on the seemingly intractable health care issue, Obama reportedly replied, "I promised Teddy.''"