In his speech at a Denver fundraiser yesterday, President Obama repeated what has become a key talking point for Democrats -- that the Senate "doesn't get anything done" and the reason for that is that some Republicans, who "don't believe in government," are happy to block the administration's initiatives because blocking government initiatives is "consistent with their philosophy." Here's what the president said:Look, something you got to understand -- for those who don't believe in government, those who don't believe that we have obligations to each other, it's a lot easier task. If you can gum up the works, if you make things broken, if the Senate doesn't get anything done, well, that's consistent with their philosophy. It's a whole lot easier to say no to everything. It's a whole lot easier to blame somebody else. That politics that feeds on peoples' insecurities, especially during tough political times -- that's the easiest kind of politics. There's a long, storied history of that kind of politics.
It's a charge you'll no doubt hear more in the coming campaign. But it's a striking flip-flop from Obama's earlier statements in which he praised Congress' ability to get things done. As a matter of fact, at a DNC fundraiser in California last October, Obama said his administration and Congress had accomplished so much that, "If we stopped today, this legislative session would have been one of the most productive in a generation." And if you go to the White House website, you'll find the president touting the very things that the administration and Congress have gotten done -- bills passed by the House and Senate and signed by the president. Obama often cites the stimulus bill, the equal pay act, the extension of children's health insurance coverage, but there are more. On the White House list:
S. 2949 -Emergency Aid to American Survivors of the Haiti Earthquake Act; signed on January 27, 2010
2009 Tax Breaks for Haiti Donations; signed on January 22, 2010
Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009; signed on October 30, 2009
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010; signed on October 28, 2009
Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act; signed on October 22, 2009
Cash For Clunkers Extension; signed on August 06, 2009
Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act; signed on June 22, 2009
Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009; signed on May 22, 2009
Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act; signed on May 22, 2009
Helping Families Save Their Homes Act; signed on May 20, 2009
Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act; signed on May 20, 2009
Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act; signed on April 21, 2009
Omnibus Public Lands Management Act; signed on March 30, 2009
Small Business Act Temporary Extension; signed on March 20, 2009
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act; signed on February 17, 2009
DTV Delay Act; signed on February 11, 2009
Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act; signed on February 04, 2009
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act; signed on January 29, 2009
For better or worse, and I'm of the opinion it's the latter, Obama and the Dems have gotten a lot, well, accomplished. But not on health care, as York points out. Whereas the White House isn't quite a single-issue entity, it certainly acts that way, and when they say Congress "doesn't get anything done," they mean ObamaCare hasn't been Rahmed down our throats.
Related post:
Obama taken to task on gay marriage flip flop
Technorati tags:
Obama 
politics 
Barack Obama 
Democrats 
obamacare 
health 
universal health care 
health care reform 
gay
No comments:
Post a Comment