Apparently, some of the Republican Congressmen are annoyed with ABC's big Obama health care program from last night. They're basically claiming that the network is biased in his favor or whatever. Personally I like how Westin responded about trying to rise above sound bites. My thought is that if you can get the president in front of a camera, you do it. This isn't the election, where we have candidates debate each other. Congressmen get to do that every day on the house floor, and ABC (along with everyone else) covers it. I'm impressed that ABC did a series of posts on their site calling out the president for conflicting things he's previously said.
I did watch it, and I wouldn't call it a bunch of softballs. Charlie Gibson went after him several times asking for more details, for which Obama didn't have very good responses. These exchanges I think exposed the one area where I fear he can't be an effective president. Some things are complex, with complex solutions, and he gives people too much credit that they'll try to understand the complexity. Maybe that's not his fault, as Americans seem content to see politics as sound-bites, but it definitely weakens his ability to lead.
I'll admit, I don't have strong feelings about health care, other than the cost is getting to be ridiculous. I like the care I've had available, but I'm annoyed at how much it costs Diana now that I don't have an employer paying for my insurance. The only thing I can do is hope that I can trust the president to tap the right minds (of economists, doctors and researchers) to do the right thing. That's not easy trust to place in a president.
No comments yet.