DJP Update 2-25-2010 p.m. edition Health Summit – opinions from various sources; LAGNIAPPE: Former Astronaut Dr. James P. Bagian joins The Doctors Company (TDC) board
Here are selected quotes from the Senate_GOP, Washington Post, and Senate Democrats, and more PLUS a link to the tweets #hcr and #healthsummit
Republican selection of quotes from the news:
http://republican.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_ID=51c7d4ac-bb81-44eb-8022-6ada4a581ba9&Month=2&Year=2010
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT THE HEALTH CARE SUMMIT
“Republicans Certainly Showed Up Ready To Play” “Came In With A Plan,” “The Best Day They Have Had In Years,” “Strong Day”
CNN’S DAVID GERGEN: “Intellectually, The Republicans Had The Best Day They’ve Had In Years. The Best Day They Have Had In Years.” (CNN’s “The Situation Room,” 2/25/10)
· CNN’s DAVID GERGEN: “The Folks In The White House Just Must Be Kicking Themselves Right Now. They thought that coming out of Baltimore when the President went in and was mesmerizing and commanding in front of the House Republicans that he could do that again here today. That would revive health care and would change the public opinion about their health care bill and they can go on to victory. Just the opposite has happened.” (CNN’s “Live,” 2/25/10)
NPR’S MARA LIASSON: “I Think That The Republicans Made Their Arguments Very Well.” (Fox News, 2/25/10)
CNN’S WOLF BLITZER: “It Looks Like The Republicans Certainly Showed Up Ready To Play.” (CNN’s “Live,” 2/25/10)
· CNN’S WOLF BLITZER: “And The Republicans Had Less Speaking Time, But They Took Full Advantage Of Every Minute They Had.” (CNN’s “The Situation Room,” 2/25/10)
THE HILL’S A.B. STODDARD: “I Think We Need To Start Out By Acknowledging Republicans Brought Their ‘A Team.’ They had doctors knowledgeable about the system, they brought substance to the table, and they, I thought, expressed interest in the reform. I thought in the lecture from Senator John McCain and on the issue of transparency, I thought today the Democrats were pretty much on their knees.” (Fox News’ “Live,” 2/25/10)
CNN’s GLORIA BORGER: “The Republicans Have Been Very Effective Today. They Really Did Come To Play. They Were Very Smart.” (CNN’s “Live,” 2/25/10)
· BORGER: “They took on the substance of a very complex issue. … But they really stuck to the substance of this issue and tried to get to the heart of it and I think did a very good job.” (CNN’s “Live,” 2/25/10)
· BORGER: “They came in with a plan. They mapped it out.” (CNN’s “Live,” 2/25/10)
POLITICO: “By The Afternoon, However, Both Sides Took A More Substantive Approach That Played To The Republicans’ Benefit, given Democratic attempts to portray them as unreasonable and partisan.” (“Six Hours Later, Stalemate Remains,” Politico, 2/25/10)
FOX NEWS’ CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: “The Republicans Really Helped Themselves. The argument against them, it’s the party of no, they have no ideas, they are against anything, they’re nihilists. In fact, they spent seven hours, I think, presenting a very strong case. They’re knowledgeable. They have ideas. They are interested in reform, but they have differences. Lamar Alexander was dazzling, Paul Ryan was rapier sharp in rebutting all of the smoke and mirrors that the democrats had presented.” (Fox News, 2/25/10)
JAMES CARVILLE: “First, In General, You’d Have To Say, By The Most Part Most Of These People Were Pretty Knowledgeable, They Had Done Their Homework … I Thought That Senator Alexander And Senator Coburn Did Great…” (CNN’s “The Situation Room,” 2/25/10)
FOX NEWS’ BRET BAIER: “Republicans Had A Strong Day Making Their Points.” (Fox News’ “Live,” 2/25/10)
WASHINGTON POST’S MICHAEL GERSON: “The Democrats’ Health-Care Ambush Failed”(Michael Gerson, Op-Ed, “The Democrats’ Health-Care Ambush Failed,” The Washington Post, 2/25/10)
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Washington Post
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/white-house/winners-and-losers-from-the-he.html?hpid=topnews
After spending our day watching the high-stakes or, at the very least, high-profile health care summit at Blair House, we came up with a list of our winners and losers from the proceedings.
Those who we think soared and bored are below. Have your own thoughts? The comments section is open for business.
WINNERS
Tom Coburn: The Oklahoma senator is among the most conservative voices in Congress but his remarks emerged as a — rare — rallying point during the day. Coburn’s comments on the necessity of eliminating waste and fraud from the health care system drew nods from the president and kudos from a handful of Democratic and Republican politicians gathered at Blair House. In a room dominated by politicians trying to score political points or vamp for the cameras, Coburn stood out.
President Obama: Did the president solve the problem of passing a health care bill today? No. But, there was never a reasonable expectation on either side that he would. What Obama did do was paint himself — for anyone who was watching — as someone genuinely interested in compromise and genuinely interested in engaging with his Republican colleagues. (Whether that was a facade or the real thing remains a major point of debate between partisans.) Obama also didn’t let Republicans run rough-shod over him either. He clashed with Sens.Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) and John McCain (Ariz.) — showing a feistiness (albeit a measured feistiness) that is likely to be well received by the party’s base. Obama’s performance saved, to our mind, what could have been a disastrous day for his party as he got relatively little help from his party’s representatives in Congress throughout the day.
Process: While President Obama sought repeatedly to keep the focus on future-oriented policy solutions, the discussion repeatedly devolved into process. Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) dedicated the majority of his remarks to detailing the deals cut during the health care debate while Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) spent much of his time defending the idea of reconciliation to pass major measures of the bill. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) even brought process to the Blair House discussion — noting that Democrats had been given more time to talk than Republicans. (Obama shot back that he had not counted to his own speaking time in the total since he is the president.) The more process coverage, the worse for Democrats who have been hamstrung to date by the focus on how the bill becomes a law rather than the policy guts of the proposal.
The Senate: There was roughly an equal number of House and Senate members gathered at Blair House but it felt very much like a debate between senators. With the exception of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) — the GOP’s dedicated policy guy — there was very little serious engagement in the talks from the House side.
Paul Ryan: Speaking of the Wisconsin Republican, it was clear that the president regards him as a serious thinker and adversary while his GOP colleagues often deferred to him on matters of health care and budget policy. Ryan helped burnish his credentials a rising star within the Republican party; he was partisan but drove his attacks using data rather than pure political rhetoric.
C-SPAN: What a day for the Fix’s favorite television network. Full coverage of the summit as well as a flawless Internet feed for those not close to a television. Well done.
LOSERS
Harry Reid: Reid is the consummate behind the scenes player. And, today he reminded us again of why. Reid, who spoke within the summit’s first hour, was extremely combative — a tone that seemed out of step with the overall tenor of the meeting in which most attendees tried to pay at least lip service to the idea of bipartisanship before launching into the attacks. Not Reid. “Let’s make sure we talk about facts,” Reid scolded Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.). Later, he interrupted Coburn and said the Oklahoma Senator was trying to “filibuster.”
John McCain: From the start of his remarks around mid-day, McCain seemed on the verge of losing his temper and threw several rhetorical jabs (including one about Obama breaking his campaign promise about holding the health care hearings on C-SPAN) into his speech. (“We’re not campaigning anymore,” Obama shot back at McCain. “The election is over.”) Later, McCain hit Obama again for the special carve out for Florida in the health care bill. Obama agreed with the McCain critique, a move that caught the Arizona Republican off guard and left him speechless. In truth, McCain’s target audience today was not people in the room or the national media but rather conservative Republicans in his home state — the people he needs to beat back a challenge from his ideological right from former Rep. J.D. Hayworth.
Genuine Discussion: With a few exceptions, the bulk of the summit — not surprisingly — was focused on the rehashing of talking points rather than a serious engagement on the issues. Obama repeatedly attempted to keep speakers (of both parties) on topic but the conversation felt like politicians talking at — rather than to — one another. The idea of a serious policy debate was probably sacrificed the moment the summit was televised. But, it was jarring to watch what was purported to be a discussion devolve into a series of (semi)connected stump speeches.
Public Option: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (Md.) were the only ones to mention the issue that dominated the health care debate for months on end last fall — and that was in the context of it being sacrificed as a compromise to Republicans. And, as Fix colleague Alec MacGillis pointed out, Obama was very careful to emphasize that people shopping for coverage on the new health insurance exchanges he is proposing would be choosing only among ‘private plans.'”
Cable Networks: With the exception of the Obama-McCain tête à têete, the day was largely devoid of the sort of made-for-TV moments that help drive ratings.
By Chris Cillizza | February 25, 2010; 5:21 PM ET
Senate_GOPs Tweet:
Final #hcrsummit talk tallies: Dems and Obama: 233 minutes; GOP: 110 minutes http://bit.ly/ag6jv0 #tcot #sgp
Senate Democrats statement of Senator Reid: http://democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=322570&
February 25, 2010
Reid Statement On White House Health Summit
Washington, DC— Nevada Senator Harry Reid released the following statement at the conclusion of the bipartisan, bicameral White House Health Reform Summit today:
“Today’s meeting was an important exchange that allowed the American people to hear different ideas and I applaud the President for bringing us together. Health reform is not about process or sound bites; it’s about real people like Jesús Gutierrez in Reno who struggle with a health system that too often stands between them and the care they need and deserve. Ideological differences will always exist, but unless we act health care costs will continue to skyrocket and thousands of Americans will continue to lose their coverage or be denied treatment every day.
“I still believe that we can work together and am hopeful that we reach the bipartisan solution to health reform that we’ve always preferred. We are serious about delivering meaningful health reform to the American people, and all options remain on the table to accomplish that.”
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To see the tweets happening this very moment, go to Google and type in #hcr
or
#healthsummit
and then scroll down to the tweets and click on that. Here is the URL for one.
Example: http://www.google.com/search?q=%23healthsummit+site%3Atwitter.com&tbs=mbl:1&tbo=1&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&sa=X&ei=nS-HS7_pKMeNlAeZkdTPAQ&ved=0CCMQsQcwCA
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AP at Yahoo News:
Excerpt: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100225/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_overhaul
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR and JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writers – Thu Feb 25, 6:23 pm ET
WASHINGTON – After a day of debate and disagreement, President Barack Obama concluded Thursday’s unprecedented live talkfest on health care with the bleak assessment that accord between Democrats and Republicans may not be possible. He rejected Republican preferences for seeking a step-by-step solution or simply starting over.
Obama strongly suggested that Democrats will try to pass a sweeping overhaul without GOP support, by using controversial Senate budget rules that would disallow filibusters. And then, he said, this fall’s elections would write the verdict on who was right.
“We cannot have another yearlong debate about this,” Obama said at the end of a 7 1/2-hour marathon policy session.
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And the stories go on and on.
By the end of April, any attempt to push the current bills through using reconciliation will stop. Meanwhile, you can bet the folks who are doing polls will be very busy. Much action in Congress will depend on the polls. The eyes always are on the ballot box. But sometimes the racing car fails to make the turn and goes off of the cliff. We shall see.
Stay well. Live long. Exciting times are unfolding.
LAGNIAPPE: Former Astronaut Dr. Jim Bagian joins The Doctors Company (TDC) board (www.thedoctors.com). TDC has a wonderful board and it was a pleasure to see Dr. Jim Bagian join the TDC board today as a new board member. Many of you know Dr. Bagian’s work in patient safety. Of course he is a multitalented leader — an engineer, physician, pilot, and astronaut. After the 1986 CHALLENGER space shuttle explosion, he supervised the capsule’s recovery from the ocean floor, personally diving ninety-five feet into the Atlantic Ocean and discovering the bodies. I feature him as one of the leaders in chapter 16 of my book, “On Leadership – Essential Principles for Success”. I always learn something from Jim and today was no exception as I listened to him during breaks when I attended the TDC board meeting that concluded today.
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Will be in the air most of tomorrow heading home form California!
Have a great weekend!
Donald J. Palmisano, MD, JD
Intrepid Resources® / The Medical Risk Manager Company
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