Blair House Summit: Obama's Moses Moment…Not so much!

Last Thursday, February 25th, the Obama Administration staged a ‘Health Care Summit’ at Blair House. It was to be the President’s President “Moses Moment,” when e would part the seas and bring the Republicans, Democrats and Our country together and get everyone on board his “much maligned” Federally Run Health Care Program. (ObamaCare 2.0). His approach would be to “Listen,” particularly to The Republicans and Independents, and then part the Seas of Conflict and pass through to the Promised Land of a compromise. Well, it was over, finally over, after 7 hours of heavy winds. The event showed Obama less like a Moses parting the Red Sea, and more like a deadly tsunami poised to wreak havoc on American shores.

On his walk from The White House to The Blair House earlier in the morning, Mr. Obama declared he was going “to listen.” He listened, but not so much. When the meeting was over it turned out that his soliloquy lasted over 122 minutes, The Democrats spoke 135 minutes, and The Republicans were “allowed” to speak for 111 minutes (30% of the entire meeting). So it is official, he is not The Listener in Chief. When asked about his lack of listening ability and his penchant for wanting to listen to his own voice, Mr. Obama responded, “I don’t count my time because I am…The President.” This is the official 2010 version of “Let Them Eat Cake.”

Unfortunately for Mr. Obama, the week’s health care rollout did not start off well, when on Monday he posted a new ObamaCare 2.0 on The White House website. This Plan was eerily similar to a “worst of” compilation of excerpts from the House and Senate Health Care Plans. This Plan did not have any input from Republicans or Independents. Isn’t it odd that ObamaCare 2.0 was posted on the site — without a Press Conference? This Administration has a Press Conference when he sneezes, but no such fanfare for what the Administration claims is the most important domestic issue. The teleprompter must have developed Swine Flu, or maybe Mr. Obama held off on the press event because he would have to answer questions on HIS health care plan from that pesky press.

If Mr. Obama were sincere about input from The Republicans and Independents at “The Parting of The Seas Meeting,” why not wait until after the meeting and incorporate some of their ideas in HIS plan? Because, of course, the meeting was merely a media spectacle designed to give the illusion (a poor one at that) of potential compromise.

ObamaCare 2.0 is troubling on many fronts. ObamaCare is a combination of the House and Senate Bills, which takes control of every American’s health care life. This plan would not improve the current system, and is fatally flawed because it:

• Rations and denies access to healthcare. Denying access to healthcare is the most inhumane and unethical means of cutting costs;
• Costs $1 TRILLION ( $100 Billion more than The Senate Bill) ;
• Creates over 110 Federal Agencies, commissions and boards;
• Creates The Health Insurance Rate Authority….a direct violation of States’ Rights;
• Establishes a ” Comprehensive Database” on Americans;
• Establishes Individual and Employer Mandates ( Mr. Obama’s own Chair of Council of Economic Advisors has stated that this alone would cost 5.5 Million jobs….more unemployment. );
• Institutes $748 Billion in new taxes;
• Cuts Medicare by $500 Billion, over a period when 30% MORE Americans will be added to Medicare rolls, (You do the math…);
• Imposes $136 Billion in tax hikes on working families making LESS THAN $250,000 (Americans for Tax Reform Analysis);
• Ends Medicare Advantage Program for Seniors and forces them to a more expensive plan with less benefits;
• Applies Medicare Tax to unearned income;
• Increases Medicare Payroll Tax from 2.95 to 3.8%; and
• Increases unfunded mandates on every State.

To make matters worse, when The Congressional Budget Office was asked to review and “score” ObamaCare 2.0, its response was: “The CBO can not score or evaluate the plan due to a lack of detail.”

In the final five minutes of “The Parting of The Seas” Meeting , Mr. Obama looked to the Republican and Independent side of the room and implied that if they did not sign on to ObamaCare 2.0, He and The Democratic Majority would “get it done without them.” In other words, he would resort to Reconciliation, jamming it through Congress on a procedural gimmick. The Democrats cannot even win the issue with their own dominant majority, for a very good reason. They cannot even convince their own Democrat rank and file that they know best, when the American Public has made it clear that they do NOT want this Plan.

The meeting turned out not to be a Parting of the Seas event, but appears to have been the prelude to a tsunami that could damage our country, wash away our rights and liberties, and adversely impact every American. He seems determined, come hell or high water, to ram his way through. Let’s move to higher ground.