Nice Speech, Wrong Month
Dennis Smith /
President Obama gave a nice, thematic speech Wednesday night. But that was the speech he should have given in April or May at the latest. It is now September and four congressional committees have already completed their work. The President said there is agreement on “about 80 percent of what needs to be done …”. That is probably not true because about 80 percent of what is in the current legislation is not needed in order to achieve the three basic goals outlined in the speech.
The speech is a lesson in the difference between campaigning and governing. If the Administration were truly serious about malpractice reform and attacking waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid, there would have been more in the envelops he gave to the Vice-President and Speaker last night. To govern, he should have given actual legislative language (yes, the Executive Branch can and does draft legislation). If the Administration were serious, there would be a team from the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) on Capitol Hill all day today conducting briefings on the specifics of the President’s Plan. (more…)