Since the beginning of the Obama adminstration, Democrats have been using the term ‘reset’ a lot. It has a lot of merit, the desire to halt a certain trajectory and recover some bearings.
Republicans are hearing from constituents that they want to restart the process of reforming health care in America. This instant review by Reuters
is apparently undergoing continual change, but right after the
president’s speech before Congress, it carried some of those
statements. Here’s one that remains (as of this writing):
(Rep. Charles Boustany:) “It’s clear the American people
want health care reform, but they want their elected leaders to get it
right. Most Americans wanted to hear the President tell Speaker (Nancy)
Pelosi, Majority Leader (Harry) Reid and the rest of Congress that it’s
time to start over on a common-sense, bipartisan plan focused on
lowering the cost of health care while improving quality. That’s what I
heard over the past several months in talking to thousands of my
constituents.”
Reuters dropped some original reporting on another response from
Republican leadership about that call to restart the process, this time
with bi-partisanship. But it has a common sense response from Senate
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“The President spent a lot of time tonight talking about
what will happen if Congress does nothing about healthcare even though
there’s already a strong bipartisan agreement on the need for reform.
The false choice between a massive government takeover, or no reform at
all, is one that has been soundly rejected across the country.”
Really, it’s not an either-or ultimatum.
The editors of the National Review had this response after the speech.
President Obama said that “the time for bickering is
over” and that he will not “waste time with those who have made the
calculation that it’s better politics to kill this plan than improve
it.” You would not guess it from his speech, but it is possible
sincerely to believe that it is better policy to scrap this plan and
start over.
After all, what’s the hurry,
if this legislation doesn’t go into effect until 2013? The president
has promised to listen to voices who do not agree with him on key
legislation, or key aspects of it. Here are some.