What President Obama Did Say on Health Care

Okay, we all know that Mr. Obama is a good speaker, even though he gives me whip lash as he swings back and forth looking from one prompter to the next while looking as if he is watching a tennis match.

But what about substance last night? I must be honest; I went to church. I caught the end and the snippets last night and this morning. Which brings me to ask, why did he wait to give this speech on a night that is traditionally set aside for church services? Could it be that conservatives would be at church and not watching the speech?

Enough drama.

From what I am able to ascertain from this speech last night, President Obama did

• give more general specifics that he would like to see in the bill (good)
  
• stress and not stress the necessity of the government option (though now government optional co-ops are becoming all the new rage) and left it up to Congress as to whether to keep it or not (sticking to his proposal)
  
• offer Tort reform as a handout but he did not get overly specific (showed leadership here)
• call Republicans and talk show radio hosts and other liars (okay not a great idea, because everyone cannot be lumped into this boat)
  
• threaten to call out Republicans who disagreed with him (while ignoring the Democrats that are listening to their constituents)
• invoke a tone of frustration (what I like to call the "I'm your Daddy" tone; being a father I use it often)
  

What he did not say:

• That this bill should be broken up in order to start getting elements of the bill passed and working so people can get relief
• That the $600 Billion dollars he wants to save in Medicare waste could have gone back to the people or into paying off our debt. He would rather keep the debt and deficit spending high and use the money to "help" pay for this extremely expensive government intervention
• Why government doesn't go ahead and fix the wasted $600 Billion dollars anyway (because the federal government likes keeping our money)
  

Overall grade: C+. President Obama is sticking to his guns, which I can respect. He is also showing that he is listening to some extent. He did not do the one thing I would hope he would have had done: break the bill up. Sorry to repeat myself, but it needs to be said again and again.

Of course, he will be making further comments this morning. Does that mean he does not think he made his point last night? We shall see.