A Hidden Agenda Behind the Health Care Reform Summit?

If President Obama gets his health care bill passed in 2010, when will it actually start and how will it affect Americans? Although some measures will go into effect within six months, it is interesting to note that other measures will not even take effect for several years, with some measures not coming into play until 2018.

In the meantime, there will be another presidential election in 2012 and currently, numerous polls indicate that it does not bode well for the current president to be re-elected for a second term. The election of a new president may very well be a game change in many ways.

Although numerous sources say there is little precedent for repealing a major piece of partisan legislation, it would appear that is only due to other uncontested pieces of controversial bills, which had not faced as much opposition by the majority of American citizens as this particular bill has been. Even if some measures of the health care bill provided a great option for Americans, other less attractive options could be repealed by selective review and new changes implemented that would have a greater nationwide appeal.

One thing is certainly clear and that is President Obama had no real intentions of starting over with a blank page as was suggested by Republicans and others. Nor will he ever convene another health care summit such as the one on Thursday, February 25, 2010. He said himself that it was a waste of time because he could see that the gap between the Democrats and the Republicans was non-repairable, let alone any attempt to build a bridge between the two parties.

Near the end of President Obama's closing remarks, he stated, "I don't think, Tom, that we're going to have another one of these because people don't have seven, eight hours a day to work some of these things through." Since these people are elected representatives with the responsibility of addressing a bill that affects one-sixth of the United States economy, this is merely an excuse on the President's part. It is their job to spend as much time as necessary to get health care reform right - not to pass it "right now".

That is an absurd observation by President Obama, who apparently did not intend to listen to what the Republicans had to say in the first place, then to be bold enough to make such a comment on national television. Further proof has been evidenced by the decision of the Democrats not to wait for any Republican votes or to continue with any discussion of Republican ideas - and they did not wait even 24 hours after the end of the summit to do so. Is there a hidden agenda behind the push for this health care reform program to be passed when the majority of Americans are saying they do not want it?

As someone said a few days ago, this televised event was nothing more than a stage to try to make most Republicans appear as if they were the guilty parties - a virtual dog and pony show filled with smoke and mirrors. Unfortunately for the American people, it was more like a Punch and Judy puppet show with President Obama arrogantly attempting to control all the marionette strings by letting dissenters voice their reasons opposing the health care bill and then stating they were wrong in almost every exchange.

The summit itself was a useless exercise in futility and a media event designed specifically to let President Obama talk to the nation under the guise of compromise, retain the ability to blame the Republicans for holding up his health care reform, provide him with the excuse to stage the "reconciliation process", and to boost his poll numbers. Therefore, what was the point in every going through the summit exercise?

The health care reform legislation will now move forward, but bi-partisan involvement will be the dead pony in this show and the resulting trick will be President Obama's potential loss of the Presidency in 2012. It would be prudent for the new president, regardless of political party, to realize precisely how detrimental the effect of attempting to initiate laws that the citizen majority refuse to accept may be for continued support from the citizens who elected him or her.

Even so, it seems that the bottom line will not change in the end. The use of reconciliation is fraught with its own problems regarding legal procedures to accommodate passage of any bill. Nevertheless, if rammed into law now with the use of reconciliation, health care reform faces altered or modified adjustments with little or no effect on Americans after the next presidential election. In fact, it may turn out that the real "Party of No" is the Democratic Party itself.

Sources:
Is GOP the Party of 'No'? Is It a Good Thing? , by Nolan Finley, February 11, 2010
Bottom line on health care summit: Dems push ahead, by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Jennifer Loven, AP, February 26, 2010
The aftermath: Confusion, conflict, by Carrie Budoff Brown, February 26, 2010
President Obama makes closing remarks at White House health summit, CQ Transcriptions, February 25, 2010