Healthcare Opposition Dramatic

In voting for Scott Brown to fill the US Senate seat left vacant by the death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the Massachusetts voters demonstrated: 1. Dissatisfaction with the direction of the country, 2. Antipathy toward federal government activism, and 3. Opposition to the Democrats' health-care proposals. Those are the conclusions released today (1-22-10) drawn from a Jan. 20-21 poll sponsored by The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University's School of Public Health, and released by The Post, which says the statistics show “how dramatically the political landscape has shifted during President Obama's first year in office.” 63% of Massachusetts’ special-election voters said America “is seriously off track,” the newspaper reported. “Nearly two-thirds of Brown's voters say their vote was intended at least in part to express opposition to the Democratic agenda in Washington.” Among all Massachusetts voters — including those who voted for Brown’s opponent, state attorney general Martha Coakley — 48 percent oppose said they oppose Obama’s healthcare proposals while 43 percent support them. Among Brown's supporters, however, eight in 10 said they were opposed to Obama’s healthcare proposals, and, 66 percent of them strongly opposed them.

Health plan Opposed

56% of voters oppose Obama's proposed healthcare plan.

"That’s the highest level of opposition found — reached three times before — in six months of polling, according to Rasmussen Reports.

The survey found that 40% of voters favor Obama's healthcare plan.

Obama fails On climate

"Obama Has Failed the World on Climate Change"

That was the headline in the 11-17 Spiegel Online, the online version of Germany's Der Spiegel world affairs magazine.

The lead paragraph:

"US President Barack Obama came to office promising hope and change. But on climate change, he has followed in the footsteps of his predecessor, George W. Bush. Now, should the climate summit in Copenhagen fail, the blame will lie squarely with Obama."

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Tale of Senate integrity, courage

From the same small state tucked under the eastern arm of Canada, serving the same largely lower-income constituencies, facing the same fiscal challenges, and carrying identical banners for the same political party, Maine’s two senators present a Dorian Gray portrait of contrasts.

One has staked out a position of courage; the other of compromise — Senators Collins and Snowe, respectively.

The stark contrasts began emerging two weeks ago when Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe defected from the Republican Party to cast the lone GOP vote for The Baucus Bill, an action that significantly moved forward the federal government’s takeover of the American healthcare system and gave Obama the questionable ability to declare that he had achieved a “bipartisan” victory.

Now, Maine Sen. Susan Collins — representing precisely the same demographics as Sen. Snowe — voted against the Obama’s healthcare legislation in a 60-39 party-line vote. As did Sen. Snowe, further obfuscating her position.

Colllins-header2Not to be confused with her counterpart’s vacillation and her disloyal behavior, Sen. Collins seized the moment and immediately emailed her constituents with news of the Senate vote and of her strong stance regarding it.

At 8:11 p.m. Saturday, The Washington Post moved its first Internet news advisory on passage of the healthcare bill in the upper chamber:

“Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) this evening secured the 60 votes needed to move an $848 billion health-care reform bill to the Senate floor for debate, clearing the way for amendment deliberations to begin after the Thanksgiving recess.”

At 9:07 p.m. Saturday, Sen. Collins’ email list received this notification:

“Senator Susan Collins tonight voted against considering a divisive, partisan bill and, instead, urged her colleagues to work together to develop a new, bipartisan proposal to help reform our nation’s health care system.”

The roll call vote registered these results:

Voting for the healthcare legislation: 58 Democrats and 2 independents;

Voting against the healthcare legislation were: 39 Republicans and 0 Democrats.

At perhaps one of the most crucial policy moments in recent Senate history, Sen. Snow could not muster the energy or commitment to stand by her previous treacherous vote, and retained an innocuous official Web site position unrelated to the national healthcare debate and the immediate Senate vote.

Sen. Snowe’s official Web site offered the following lead story of tortured construction, and maintained this content into the following week:

“As reports regarding the impact the economic stimulus plan has [sic.] had on job creation and retention in the nation continue to demonstrate significant inaccuracies, U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) today, in a letter, demanded that the Administration provide the methodology used to calculate job claims and explain the reporting errors on the Recovery.gov Web site.”

Snowe-Web-paragraphNot only do Mainers, and all Americans, need a senator more concerned with the quality, affordability and availability of their healthcare than Sen. Snowe, but they also need one who can hire a staff that can write a simple declarative sentence.

As wishy-washy as Sen. Snowe has been regarding her precise position regarding healthcare reform, Sen. Collins has been direct. Sen. Collins made the following unequivocal declarations in her Saturday night email message to constituents, a message that immediately followed her Senate vote.

“We must find a way to control the health care costs that have driven up the cost of coverage for families, employers and governments alike.  But Senator Reid’s proposal falls far short when it comes to reining in the cost of healthcare….

“This bill would actually drive up the cost of health insurance for many middle-income families and small businesses…

“This bill would impose billions of dollars in new penalties on employers, which will ultimately be paid by American workers in the form of reduced wages and lost jobs. This just does not make sense, especially at a time when unemployment already exceeds 10 percent…

“[This bill] would create a taxpayer-subsidized, government-run health insurance company which would ultimately lead to fewer choices and higher costs.

“[This bill] would cut hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicare, which provides care for our oldest Americans and most vulnerable citizens. These cuts would adversely affect the ability of Maine’s hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, and other health care providers to provide essential services to our seniors. Any savings in Medicare should be used to shore up the financially troubled program.

This tale of these two senators, who represent exactly the same constituencies under the same political banner, is one that gives Democrats both concern and hope. Immediately after Saturday’s decisive vote, Sen. Harry Reid called both Maine politicians and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar personally visited Sen. Collins, according to The New York Times.

The votes of Senators Collins and Snowe will be critical elements in determining the future of Obama’s healthcare takeover. Perhaps integrity, deliberation and prudence will win, with Sen. Collins’ reasoned approach eeking out victory.

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