On Thursday, Feb. 25th President Obama will be televising his so-called Health Care Summit. Twenty one lawmakers have been invited to attend this meeting to try and work out the party differences over the health care bill.
Today, Obama revealed parts of the proposal that will be put on the table Thursday. It appears to be just more of the same stuff that the American people have rejected already. Obama estimates that the proposal will cost $950 billion over the next 10 years. This is a higher cost than either bill from congress. The CBO says that the proposal is too vague to analyze.
Now, why would I compare attending this meeting to stepping into a lions den? That is easy. The GOP has nothing to gain. The deck is stacked against them and there will be nothing for them to do except sit and take it or walk out.
In this article from Politico, “The president is coming to the meeting with an open mind,” White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer said. “We hope there will be a few strong ideas from both Republicans and Democrats throughout this conversation that can be incorporated.”
This one quote says a lot about what is on the table. It says that the President does not have an open mind because when you say that you may try to incorporate other ideas into the proposal that means that this proposal is it, this is what you get and there will be no major changes.
House Minority Leader John Boehner and Minority Whip Eric Cantor sent a letter to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel raising questions about this meeting but I say that they did too little, too late.
The GOP had the chance back in January to change the whole tone of this or any other meeting but because of lack of leadership failed to do so. In a rare televised meeting between the President and the GOP caucus in Baltimore the opportunity was missed to take a stand before the President and the American people.
If I had the opportunity to be in that meeting I would have been upright and truthful as I said;
Mr. President,
We stand here today on opposite sides of a philosophical divide that cannot be bridged. In only one year in office you have lost the trust of the people. You believe in big government, I believe in the people. You believe in control, I believe in freedom. In plain and simple words, your agenda is wrong for this country, it is damaging to this country and therefore, I can not and will not move one inch to help you do harm to this country. As you go forward with your agenda you will receive no aid from me and I will do everything in my power to see that you fail.
Where are the leaders to take these strong stands? Where are the leaders to take a position of strength and lay things on the line? I wish that I knew.
A Gunslinger Looks At The World 