A Question For Obama Supporters

Dissident67

So for the past weeks and months even I have been reading and listening everywhere about Obama's call to Congress to write and pass a health care reform bill. Obviously health care is not a black and white issue and there are many factors that come into writing the bill, which is why it obviously is taking so long. But from my observations it seems like nobody is taking the lead on the bill, everybody is just arguing their own side and nobody is trying to work together, meanwhile Obama keeps on cracking the whip to get things done and get them done quicker by setting almost impossible deadlines (June and August originally).

So my question is since Obama is so concerned with health care why when he was in the senate did he not make any effort to write health care legislation? Obama's senate record shows that while he was a senator he wrote or co-sponsored ZERO bills pertaining to health issues. This fact seems very hypocritical to me, that now he pushes Congress, when he himself failed to ever take on this task. If he didnt try and lead our Congress why can he now try and lead the country by demanding legislation.

blondieblue227

good point but sounds like the blame game to me.

he said this, she said that.

focus on what's going on now.
which is a total custerfuck....but anyways.
hope you get my point: look forward not backward.

jlew24asu

Dissident67 wrote:

So my question is since Obama is so concerned with health care why when he was in the senate did he not make any effort to write health care legislation?

why does it matter ? its not hypocritical at all. if he voted against healthcare reform, then yea. but the fact that he didnt write or sponsor a bill is irrelevant.

Pepe Silvia

i didn't vote for Obama but possible scenarios could be

he knew it would be vetoed by Bush like when he vetoed health care for kids

democrats know a lot of people are going to be disappointed with whatever will get enough republicans to vote for it and don't want that stigma

Cosmo

Dissident67 wrote:

So for the past weeks and months even I have been reading and listening everywhere about Obama's call to Congress to write and pass a health care reform bill. Obviously health care is not a black and white issue and there are many factors that come into writing the bill, which is why it obviously is taking so long. But from my observations it seems like nobody is taking the lead on the bill, everybody is just arguing their own side and nobody is trying to work together, meanwhile Obama keeps on cracking the whip to get things done and get them done quicker by setting almost impossible deadlines (June and August originally).

So my question is since Obama is so concerned with health care why when he was in the senate did he not make any effort to write health care legislation? Obama's senate record shows that while he was a senator he wrote or co-sponsored ZERO bills pertaining to health issues. This fact seems very hypocritical to me, that now he pushes Congress, when he himself failed to ever take on this task. If he didnt try and lead our Congress why can he now try and lead the country by demanding legislation.

...
Junior Senators (Congressmen) rarely, if ever, get to sponsor the big, important bills. They get their feet wet by sponsoring little stuff... naming libraries or post offices. It teaches them the ropes in the Congress and how to make connections with more influential Senators or Representatives.
Of the 121 bills sponsored by Obama in his 3 years in the Senate, only 3 were signed into law:
S. 2125, A bill to promote relief, security, and democracy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
S. 3757, A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 950 Missouri Avenue in East St. Louis, Illinois, as the "Katherine Dunham Post Office Building."
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billsea ... sor=400629
...
Not exciting stuff, right? And rightly so... do you hand off your toughest assignments at work to the guy who has been doing it for the past 25 years... or to the new guy?
Why do you think the same names always come up on Bills? Kennedy, McCain, Kerry, Grahm,... there's a reason for that. It's called 'Politics'.

Dissident67

Cosmo wrote:

Dissident67 wrote:

So for the past weeks and months even I have been reading and listening everywhere about Obama's call to Congress to write and pass a health care reform bill. Obviously health care is not a black and white issue and there are many factors that come into writing the bill, which is why it obviously is taking so long. But from my observations it seems like nobody is taking the lead on the bill, everybody is just arguing their own side and nobody is trying to work together, meanwhile Obama keeps on cracking the whip to get things done and get them done quicker by setting almost impossible deadlines (June and August originally).

So my question is since Obama is so concerned with health care why when he was in the senate did he not make any effort to write health care legislation? Obama's senate record shows that while he was a senator he wrote or co-sponsored ZERO bills pertaining to health issues. This fact seems very hypocritical to me, that now he pushes Congress, when he himself failed to ever take on this task. If he didnt try and lead our Congress why can he now try and lead the country by demanding legislation.

...
Junior Senators (Congressmen) rarely, if ever, get to sponsor the big, important bills. They get their feet wet by sponsoring little stuff... naming libraries or post offices. It teaches them the ropes in the Congress and how to make connections with more influential Senators or Representatives.
Of the 121 bills sponsored by Obama in his 3 years in the Senate, only 3 were signed into law:
S. 2125, A bill to promote relief, security, and democracy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
S. 3757, A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 950 Missouri Avenue in East St. Louis, Illinois, as the "Katherine Dunham Post Office Building."
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billsea ... sor=400629
...
Not exciting stuff, right? And rightly so... do you hand off your toughest assignments at work to the guy who has been doing it for the past 25 years... or to the new guy?
Why do you think the same names always come up on Bills? Kennedy, McCain, Kerry, Grahm,... there's a reason for that. It's called 'Politics'.

I understand that Obama was a junior senator, but I would hardly consider him a juniorl. Obama was at the top of the radar screen of the democratic party ever since the 2004 Democratic national convention, so he certainly had the ability to co sponsor a bill that was written by another senior senator. Also the term junior only refers to the fact that Obama was the shorter tenured senator from the state of illinois, it really doesn't have anything to do with his status or ability to co sponsor a bill

Dissident67

jlew24asu wrote:

Dissident67 wrote:

So my question is since Obama is so concerned with health care why when he was in the senate did he not make any effort to write health care legislation?

why does it matter ? its not hypocritical at all. if he voted against healthcare reform, then yea. but the fact that he didnt write or sponsor a bill is irrelevant.

I guess i am not so much concerned with the fact that he didnt write a bill, but the fact that he didnt write a bill and is now trying to use his clout as president to force Congress into writing a bill quickly. this obviously is a complex issue that cant be solved all at once, and I don't know why he thinks forcing Congress to act quickly will yield the best result, meanwhile he never tried to do anything to achieve a better healthcare system while he was a senator

Cosmo

Dissident67 wrote:

I understand that Obama was a junior senator, but I would hardly consider him a juniorl. Obama was at the top of the radar screen of the democratic party ever since the 2004 Democratic national convention, so he certainly had the ability to co sponsor a bill that was written by another senior senator. Also the term junior only refers to the fact that Obama was the shorter tenured senator from the state of illinois, it really doesn't have anything to do with his status or ability to co sponsor a bill

...
Follow the links to the Bills he sponsored... click on them... read them.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billsea ... sor=400629

There are 121 of them in the 109th/110th Congress (total of 3 years).

inmytree

Dissident67 wrote:

So for the past weeks and months even I have been reading and listening everywhere about Obama's call to Congress to write and pass a health care reform bill. Obviously health care is not a black and white issue and there are many factors that come into writing the bill, which is why it obviously is taking so long. But from my observations it seems like nobody is taking the lead on the bill, everybody is just arguing their own side and nobody is trying to work together, meanwhile Obama keeps on cracking the whip to get things done and get them done quicker by setting almost impossible deadlines (June and August originally).

So my question is since Obama is so concerned with health care why when he was in the senate did he not make any effort to write health care legislation? Obama's senate record shows that while he was a senator he wrote or co-sponsored ZERO bills pertaining to health issues. This fact seems very hypocritical to me, that now he pushes Congress, when he himself failed to ever take on this task. If he didnt try and lead our Congress why can he now try and lead the country by demanding legislation.

Hell, it's been a uphill battle for him as President...what do you think would have happened if he introduced legislation as a Junior Senator...?

I'm trying to understand why his efforts are "hypocritical"...perhaps he was waiting for the right time...

cincybearcat

All I see is a president that finally realizes how weak his own party and especially it's leaders in congress are.

It's not hypocritical to pick the what you think is the right time before trying something. WHy waste time when you know the president will veto it?

ledvedderman

Could you imagine the uproar from the GOP and the Bush White House if a freshman Senator wrote a bill to totally overhaul the health insurance system. Politically, that would have been dumb for the Dems. If there was going to be a health care bill while Obama was in the Senate, it would have had a chief sponsor of one Ted Kennedy.

Cosmo

Dissident67 wrote:

I guess i am not so much concerned with the fact that he didnt write a bill, but the fact that he didnt write a bill and is now trying to use his clout as president to force Congress into writing a bill quickly. this obviously is a complex issue that cant be solved all at once, and I don't know why he thinks forcing Congress to act quickly will yield the best result, meanwhile he never tried to do anything to achieve a better healthcare system while he was a senator

...
I can't speak for President Obama, but from my own observations... Congress is the slowest ass piece of shit out there. If you don't give them deadlines... they won't do anything. You give them deadlines... and they push them out. You HAVE to give them short lead times because they will push those deadline out.

Prince Of Dorkness

A very good question. Which I would like to counter with a question of my own.

You know all those people who aren't racist who are parading through the streets holding posters comparing him to Stalin and Hitler? Now, their problem ISN'T that we have a black president, their problem is that THE GOVERNMENT has wasted all their tax dollars. They think that we're taxed WAY too much.

Why did they only suddenly start to care 14 days after Obama was elected? I mean... the previous government gave tax breaks... HUGE tax breaks.. to billionaires but it's the working stiffs who are out there carrying around those Monkey dolls with Obama's face and making monkey noises.

So I'm confused... did the "Tea Baggers" just suddenly wake up in mid February and realize that for the last 8 years their money has been flushed down the toilet or given to really really rich people who pay a much lower rate of taxes?

thanks4noticinme

Seems to me the man, along with all of his deciples, are hypocrites in every definition of the word.

pjfan021

because Bush was in office and healthcare reform was never on his agenda, like previously stated he vetoed the bill to expand healthcare for children. Didn't have enough votes to get that type of legislation out of the house and senate. No offense to you if you are republican, but writing a healthcare bill that will take money out of the pockets of insurance companies is something that the GOP doesn't really support. I think Obama knew that there was very little support for that type of reform during that administration especially with the war going on.

Prince Of Dorkness

thanks4noticinme wrote:

Seems to me the man, along with all of his deciples, are hypocrites in every definition of the word.

Well and it seems to me that all the people who don't like him are a bunch of cry babies, sore losers, racists and ill-informed paranoid wearers of tinfoil hats.

So I guess America is going to have to allow for both of our opinions.

Prince Of Dorkness

thanks4noticinme wrote:

Seems to me the man, along with all of his deciples, are hypocrites in every definition of the word.

I'm assuming you mean "disciples." Because it's either that or you meant "decibels" and that would make even less sense.

aerial

Jasunmark wrote:

A very good question. Which I would like to counter with a question of my own.

You know all those people who aren't racist who are parading through the streets holding posters comparing him to Stalin and Hitler? Now, their problem ISN'T that we have a black president, their problem is that THE GOVERNMENT has wasted all their tax dollars. They think that we're taxed WAY too much.

Why did they only suddenly start to care 14 days after Obama was elected? I mean... the previous government gave tax breaks... HUGE tax breaks.. to billionaires but it's the working stiffs who are out there carrying around those Monkey dolls with Obama's face and making monkey noises.

So I'm confused... did the "Tea Baggers" just suddenly wake up in mid February and realize that for the last 8 years their money has been flushed down the toilet or given to really really rich people who pay a much lower rate of taxes?

Obama wants to Fundamentally change America. Why? What does he want to change it into? He says the immigration system is broken. His way to fix the system is to just make ILLEGAL immigrants citizens. Illegal means nothing any more? Then once they are citizens we can pay for there health care also. Hey why don’t we just put the rest of the world on health care? I mean we don’t want to leave anyone out do we? Maybe we can let the government have our pay checks and just dole out the food, electric, and all the other things we need to survive. That way we have no responsibilities on our backs, we won’t even have to do any thinking because they will do it for us. I’m sure the government knows what’s best for us better than we do.

Prince Of Dorkness

aerial wrote:

Obama wants to Fundamentally change America. Why? What does he want to change it into? He says the immigration system is broken. His way to fix the system is to just make ILLEGAL immigrants citizens. Illegal means nothing any more? Then once they are citizens we can pay for there health care also. Hey why don’t we just put the rest of the world on health care? I mean we don’t want to leave anyone out do we? Maybe we can let the government have our pay checks and just dole out the food, electric, and all the other things we need to survive. That way we have no responsibilities on our backs, we won’t even have to do any thinking because they will do it for us. I’m sure the government knows what’s best for us better than we do.

OK.. now.. you realize that your little tinfoil hat tirade wasn't even CLOSE to an answer to my question, right?

That that freaky stream of paranoia and 1/4 truths just make me write you off as a nut salad and roll my eyes? All this "Obama wants o kill GrandMa and spend her inheritance to pay for abortions" bullshit isn't helping.

I asked a question about why you guys only suddenly started to care about a very long-lived problem and instead of answering it you just went on your rant of "Obama wants to kill your puppy" nonsense.

If you can't even debate and discuss with some rational thought, I'm not interested in talking with you.

And for the record, nobody wants to make all illegal immigrants legal so we can pay for their health care. If you think this is true, you need to maybe find a few new places to get news... you're not being told the truth.

If you WANT me to buy your big bag o bullshit, how about giving me a link instead of just telling me there are commies in my garden waiting to take my kids?

pjfan021

aerial wrote:

Jasunmark wrote:

A very good question. Which I would like to counter with a question of my own.

You know all those people who aren't racist who are parading through the streets holding posters comparing him to Stalin and Hitler? Now, their problem ISN'T that we have a black president, their problem is that THE GOVERNMENT has wasted all their tax dollars. They think that we're taxed WAY too much.

Why did they only suddenly start to care 14 days after Obama was elected? I mean... the previous government gave tax breaks... HUGE tax breaks.. to billionaires but it's the working stiffs who are out there carrying around those Monkey dolls with Obama's face and making monkey noises.

So I'm confused... did the "Tea Baggers" just suddenly wake up in mid February and realize that for the last 8 years their money has been flushed down the toilet or given to really really rich people who pay a much lower rate of taxes?

Obama wants to Fundamentally change America. Why? What does he want to change it into? He says the immigration system is broken. His way to fix the system is to just make ILLEGAL immigrants citizens. Illegal means nothing any more? Then once they are citizens we can pay for there health care also. Hey why don’t we just put the rest of the world on health care? I mean we don’t want to leave anyone out do we? Maybe we can let the government have our pay checks and just dole out the food, electric, and all the other things we need to survive. That way we have no responsibilities on our backs, we won’t even have to do any thinking because they will do it for us. I’m sure the government knows what’s best for us better than we do.

your reply has nothing to do with what he asked. your money has been spent on a war that has got us nowhere but nobody complained...he went into office with a surplus and left with a huge debt and economic crisis but nobody from the right was willing to say anything. the man passes a very large bill to try and stop the bleeding, which is helping, and people are up in arms because he's spending tons of money. and if this health care bill gets passed with a public option, it will finally lower health care costs for americans greatly and help reduce the deficit but for some reason people keep yelling about illegals, even though there's a direct line that states they won't be covered. Illegal immigrants aren't raping our budget and pockets like insurance companies are...and by the way, the only thing bush did was start building a fucking fence to keep out mexicans. didn't do shit about any illegal europeans or asians or anyone else. just started to build a fence..hmm he seemed pretty good at spending our money and getting nothing finished in the 8 years he was there...let's give this guy more than 8 months before you shit all over him.

inmytree

aerial wrote:

Obama wants to Fundamentally change America. Why? What does he want to change it into? He says the immigration system is broken. His way to fix the system is to just make ILLEGAL immigrants citizens. Illegal means nothing any more? Then once they are citizens we can pay for there health care also. Hey why don’t we just put the rest of the world on health care? I mean we don’t want to leave anyone out do we? Maybe we can let the government have our pay checks and just dole out the food, electric, and all the other things we need to survive. That way we have no responsibilities on our backs, we won’t even have to do any thinking because they will do it for us. I’m sure the government knows what’s best for us better than we do.

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