A friend sent me an email with a blurb about the new Whitehouse Health Insurance Reform Reality Check website, which can be accessed at: www.whitehouse.gov. The purpose of the website, obstensibly, is to act as a rumor-control point; a rumor clearing house for people who want to know the real (reality) truth about the Presidents health care reform.
Of course, I went to the Whitehouse.gov website, and found the Reality Check information box with a link to the actual website. The very first sentence in the information box has the following:
“There is a lot of misinformation being spread by defenders of the status quo”, and then it goes on: “Find out what’s in health insurance reform for you, and what’s not in it at all.”
So, right away, I now this website is about politics as usual. “Defenders of the status quo” are liars, and the White House is the source of all truth.
I don’t have a firm opinion, yet, on Health Care Reform. I would like to see some Health Care reform, but I’m skeptical as to whether we need a massive government program to attain that goal. If I were forced to take a stand at this moment, I would instinctually opt not to have government controlled health care, but that does not mean that I don’t want health care reform.
So, I am not really a supporter, or ‘defender of the status quo’, yet, I am not a supporter of the Presidents Healthcare Reform Plan; I guess I’m on the fence, and without a label.
Does the President really think that he can sway someone like me to his side by using the usual political rhetoric ? While I know he didn’t choose the actual wording, I’m sure he approved it. He didn’t have to use the language that he did; if he really wants to hear from everyone, including the ‘defenders of the status quo’, then he could have excluded the rhetoric, and invited all to participate. Obviously, there is no middle-ground for this President; there is no ‘transparency’.
It is a shame, too, because there are plenty of people who have good ideas, and who have legitimate concerns, and objections, and they don’t deserve to be dismissed as ‘defenders of the status quo’.
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The basic premise of this website does not make any sense to me. It obviously seeks to silence the criticism, but how is that possible ? It appears that the President has been caught-up in the business of trying to respond to his opponents, on a one-by-one basis, and that is a big mistake. It seems that he has taken the criticism personal.
I understand that he has a staff to do the work, but even a large staff, with a bank of computers, and scores of differing opinions, cannot have a credible effect on an endless stream of criticism. It is an impossible task; every question answered will beget ten more questions, and the stream, and quantity of bogus information is unlimited.
The website just seems like a silly idea, and it just makes him and his staff look like amateurs.
He needs to be above the criticism; he needs to take it, and he needs to stop whining, and bad-mouthing anyone who does not agree with him. In other words, he needs to be a President to all the people, and not just to those who are his supporters. If he has such a good Plan, and if the American people trust him, then it will pass. If not, then he can revise his Plan, and come back and try again; or he can offer other ways to reduce costs.
My guess is, if the Plan fails, he will do just like the Clintons did, and we won’t hear any more about health care, and he’ll blame it on his opposition. (Hopefully, the dialogue will continue, and some changes will be made)
And the idea that he is asking website users to report fellow citizens whom they might suspect of sending them ‘fishy’ email is beyond belief, and the subject of a separate blog.
And that is just my opinion.
Spencer Holly
www.angrycalifornian.com
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