I am shocked that there is no thread on the speech, itself. There are 3 or 4 , or more pages over the "Us invented the automobile", but nothing on the speech.
So, What do you all think?

As speeches go, I thought it was pretty good. His delivery was excellent. He hit some positives--good, Much better than talking the economy down.

The national health system, may be an idea whose time has come. I say that reluctantly, because I sincerly believe it will hurt the overall health care. But from an economics viewpoint, our present system puts the US at an economic disadvantage in a world market. If our world-wide competitors have government-funded healthcare, our manufacturers are at a disadvantage because they must pay it as an employee benefit.

The problems I had with the speech are with what wasn't said--the details. And, as they say, the devil is in the details. There was a lot of warm-fuzzy speech that MAY be cover for total socialism.
What do you all think?

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

Who started the whole "Socialism" thing with Obama....Hes not a socialist.

Socialistic medical care is wrong...I want the best care available to me, not what a politician deems affordable. Why do you think there are so many from our northern borders coming down for medical treatment? Look at the quality of care and the time that it takes to get that care in Canada versus the U.S.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

As far as the speech goes, it was too glazed over to be able to tell me what the full plan of attack is. He's still treading water, IMHO, and will continue to do so. He has all these ideas, but no thought going into how it's going to work.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

Last I heard their life expectancy was couple years better than US.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Canadians live longer because they don't have to worry about being sick and not being able to afford to get help.

I agree on the health care thing. The people who have it now, me included, don't want it changed. Unfortunately there is a growing number who don't have medical coverage of any kind, and that's just another disaster waiting to happen. We can no longer pretend the problem doesn't exist, because it is, and its growing.

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

I think the idea that American medical care is so superior is becoming a myth. I believe that it used to be superior, and still is for some people. I have basic, middle-of-the-road health insurance. The HMOs have the doctors on such a short leash when it comes to reimbursement that the doctors can't afford to spend more than a few moments with each patient. I go to a group of three doctors. They've probably got six clerical people handling the billing, appointments, referrals, etc. because it's so complicated and geared to the insurance company needs, not the patient needs. If my doctor spends five minutes with me on any given appointment, I'm lucky. Fortunately I'm in good health.

I've seen friends and relatives with serious problems fall victim to the pill-pushing of the pharmaceutical companies. Try to go to a psychiatrist to deal with a life crisis... You'll get virtually no talk therapy, but plenty of drugs. Got circulatory problems? Lipitor, Coumadin, a stent, a bypass, and future problems from the drugs and their interactions. A real emphasis on weight loss, exercise, healthy eating? Nope.

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1987 W201 190D

I have numerous professional friends who have been putting off health care needs simply because health insurance for the self employeed has become outrageously expensive for a decent policy, and those policies that are affordable simply do not cover much, especially in the way of prescription drugs. If that is "superior health care", then driving your Mercedes 150,000 miles between oil changes is "superior auto care".

The speech was brilliant. Obama essentially told the country to get off its a$$, and set the new agenda for the US - Energy independence, education and health care reform. The days where our national agenda was Death and Destruction in Iraq, a Free Ride For The Rich and No More Regulations for Corporations are over, we are to become a society centered around the needs of the average person, not around the needs of corporate fat cats and military-industrial complex oligarchs. He spoke directly to the American people as if they were adults, and the departure from the heavily-parsed child-level sentence structure of El Duce Bush to the direct, reasoned and logical structure of Obama was extraordinary. We finally have a real president.

I thought it was a pretty good speech. It's funny, most people will take what they want to hear from it, and gloss over or say, 'it's just talk' about the things they don't want to hear.
This is where the Socialism talk comes from. People dont want to hear the possibility, or the things he says that don't gibe with their agenda or label they've stuck on him. Instead of confronting substance, they pick a word, demonize it, then slap it on like a blanket.

He talked about shortsightedness that needs changing and it does. He talked about regulations that need to be in place, and they do. He talked about cutting spending, and said he cut 2trillion over 10years, which is needed. He talked about Congress having to let go of projects, which is also needed. I think though that if he wants them to act, he's going to have to go to the people often and use them to bully Congress. I think he should be on CSPAN every week, like the radio shows other Presidents have done. And webcasts. Urge the people to get their Congressmen to do something.

Health care reform has a lot of room to maneuver before nationalizing. Cost cutting measures, regulations, streamlining can all lead to massive savings. I personally think a system of national health care is a good idea - provided that tough rules are written and followed, and it is run efficiently. Everybody makes much ado about time for Canadians, like you never have to wait for an appointment in America. But nowhere is it written that we have to adopt Canada's system. I have friends who are doctors in Vancouver. They absolutely have problems with the way Canada's system is set up. There is too much time spent waiting for helath care. Not one of them has any desire whatsoever to see America's health care system over there. Not even parts of it.





One thing about American health care v. others. My mom is French, and is currently taking care of my grandmother over there, so I have some knowledge of their system. With the kind of general doctor visit type care that JonL is talking about, their care is better than 90% of the care here. I'd much rather break my ankle or get bronchitis there than here. Or have some chronic issue like diabetes. They do what they can to help you without first finding out how you're going to pay for it. They don't hurry you out because HMOs cause them to have to see many patients just to be profitable.
But for the serious care, trauma or critical surgery, we have much better equipment (and therefore expertise) here. Also, in France, the doctors don't want to do any medical procedures on my grandmother because she's 90. Not worth it. And they didn't just start that.

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1984 300TD

I'm glad you have these great feelings...I really am. Let's see how you feel at the end of 4 years.

Ole' Barry has yet to give a plan of attack on any of his grand ideas. There is no forethought on the ripple effects on the society as a whole.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

My stepmother is self-insured because she works part time and is below the age for medicare. She used to be under my dad's plan until he died. So now she pays over $600 per month out of pocket for very basic high deductible medical insurance. The kicker is she won't go to the doctor for the aches and pains she has, for fear that it will put her in an even more expensive high-risk category. She is essentially paying expensive insurance just to cover catastrophic illness. That's not my definition of health care.

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

No it's not. It's more like a hostage situation mixed with extortion.

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1984 300TD

Don't take this the wrong way...but I don't care. I work hard and have great health care as part of my benefits package. I still have the choice of doctors and care that I have enjoyed for years.

Would you rather get the care you need, or just enough to be covered by the government?

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

The plan of attack should be pretty obvious.