Obama: “I’m not starting from scratch on the Health Care Bill”

O-man made a guest appearance in the White House press room Tuesday afternoon to brief reporters about his meeting with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders.

Obama said he told House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) that his core goals — lowering health-care costs for businesses and individuals and expanding coverage to the uninsured — remained non-negotiable. But Obama said he would consider GOP alternatives that accomplish the same results. He also said he would sign what he considered to be a less-than-perfect bill.

“I am going to be starting from scratch in the sense that I will be open to any ideas that help promote these goals,” Obama told reporters. “What I will not do, what I don’t think makes sense and I don’t think the American people want to see, would be another year of partisan wrangling around these issues, another six months or eight months or nine months worth of hearings in every single committee in the House and the Senate in which there’s a lot of posturing.”

The president added, “Let’s get the relevant parties together. Let’s put the best ideas on the table. My hope is that we can find enough overlap that we can say, “This is the right way to move forward, even if I don’t get every single thing that I want.”

Yes, Yes…thats what we need, a less than perfect bill to go along side all the other less than perfect bills.

Clinton – “The reason the tea-baggers are so inflamed is because we are winning.”

With the issue he has positioned to be his crowning achievement as president at a crossroads, Barack Obama once again called on his former rival to help him follow through.
Former President Bill Clinton told a room full of Democratic Senators Tuesday that passing health care reform – which he failed to do 15 years ago – is not only a moral issue, but also “an economic imperative.”

Clinton argued that even “the most cold-hearted person” ought to support health care reform simply from an economic standpoint. He reminded Democrats of the political momentum their failure to pass reform in 1993 delivered the House of Representatives to the Republicans the following year.

“The point I want to make is: just pass the bill, even if it’s not exactly what you want,” Clinton told Democrats. “When you try and fail the other guys write history.”

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said Clinton described the ongoing tea party protests against the Democratic agenda as a sign his party was making progress.

Whitehouse quoted Clinton arguing: “The reason the tea-baggers are so inflamed is because we are winning.”

Clinton’s overall message was one the Obama administration has tried to make: not passing a bill is the worst thing Democrats could do.

“So it’s not important to be perfect here, it’s important to act, to move, to start the ball rolling, to claim the evident advantages that all these plans agree with and whatever they can get the votes for I’m gonna support,” Clinton said he told the senators. “I think it is good politics to pass this and to pass this as soon as they can. But I think the most important thing is it is the right thing for America. The worst thing to do is nothing.”

No Wonder CNN is losing rating, the headline is AARP expected to support health care.

Really CNN? No kidding.

Did you forget about the town hall protests in August of this year?

Come on CNN, you can do better than that especially when we are just days away from the Health Care reform going live to public and we only have 72 hours to read 2000 pages.

And please stop quoting Michelle Bachmann, the woman is crazy and gives the Republicans a bad name…it would be like quoting Barney Frank on every story.

Happy Halloween – Civil Rights Act, 8 pages. Health Care reform, 1990 pages. Trees. Priceless.

With Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats unveiling their 1,990 page health care reform bill – it made you wonder about other landmark pieces of legislation in U.S. history and how long they were.

The original draft of the 1935 Economic Security Act, which established the Social Security Administration was 64 pages
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 – forbidding discrimination based on race and sex: 8 pages The 19th amendment to the Constitution, giving Women the right to vote in 1920: 1 page
The Emancipation Proclamation, with which Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in 1863: 5 pages
Or, if you really want to get back to basics: The Declaration of independence came in at 1 page in 1776

The Democrats say they’ll post the final version online for lawmakers and the public to read 72 hours before a vote. Good luck reading 2,000 pages in 72 hours.

Meanwhile although the Democrats keep talking about openness and transparency in this process, there are reports that they blocked the public from attending the unveiling ceremony for their health care bill outside of the Capitol yesterday. Videos online show people – not on a pre-approved guest list – being turned away.

Note to Nancy Pelosi: You people don’t own the Capitol – we do.

So much for saving the environment