Obama Pushes Health Care Despite Town Hall Disruptions (362 hits)

NEW YORK—President Barack Obama tried on Tuesday to defuse misconceptions about his health care reform proposal in a town hall meeting in New Hampshire, after a series of disruptions at Democratic lawmakers’ town hall meetings. Speaking to an audience of 1,800, the president talked about the importance of rebuilding the economy, particularly noting health care and some of the consumer protections embedded in the overhaul plan. “If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan,” said President Obama. “You will not be waiting in any lines. This is not about putting the government in charge of your health insurance. “For all the chatter and the yelling and the shouting and the noise, what you need to know is this: If you don’t have health insurance, you will finally have quality, affordable options, once we pass reform. If you do have health insurance, we will make sure that no insurance company, or a government bureaucrat, gets between you and the care that you need.”

Originally, town hall meetings started in colonial New England, and were intended to permit local residents to raise their concerns and questions to public officials. However, at Sen. Benjamin Cardin’s (D-Md.) health care town hall meeting on Monday, the first day of Senate recess, outspoken opponents of the Democratic overhaul plan expressed their hostility at the first-term senator, echoing similar disruptions around the country recently. On Tuesday, Obama was in Portsmouth High School, New Hampshire, to launch the first of three health care town hall meetings, before moving on to Bozeman, Montana and Grand Junction, Colorado later during the week. Long before President Obama’s arrival at the town hall meeting at 1 p.m., hundreds of demonstrators for and against the health reform lined up along the streets leading to the high school. Some arrived as early as 6:15 a.m.

Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary, said in a press briefing on Tuesday that the president believed that the New England tradition is an exchange of ideas and “hopefully all sides become better informed about the issues that are affecting them.” On Monday, White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton said that the president is supportive of debates and active involvement, but thinks disruptions and shouts are not “constructive” and “unproductive.”
“Conservatives oppose health care reform is about as surprising as the sun having come up today in the east,” said Gibbs. “Just because somebody can yell at a health care town hall meeting I think is indicative only of one's personal lung capacity.”

Both Burton and Gibbs said that the president looks forward to his town hall meetings. Since the House and Senate went on recess on Monday, some elected officials are busy at home talking to their constituents about the reform. “However, it is now evident that an ugly campaign is underway, not merely to misrepresent the health insurance reform legislation, but to disrupt public meetings and prevent members of Congress and constituents from conducting a civil dialogue,” wrote Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), speaker of the House, and Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), House majority leader, in an opinion article in USA Today.

They noted tactics used, including hanging the effigy of one Democratic Congress member in Maryland and protesters holding a sign displaying a tombstone with name of a congressman in Texas. “These disruptions are occurring because opponents are afraid not just of differing views—but of the facts themselves. Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American. Drowning out the facts is how we failed at this task for decades,” they wrote. “Majority Leader Hoyer believes everyone has a right to be heard, and disruptions that prevent people from having their say are not a constructive part of debate,” said Katie Grant, deputy press secretary for Congressman Hoyer. “Democrats remain committed to listening to their constituents' concerns and taking them into account as we work to pass health care reform this year”...

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/vi... Posted By: Jen Fad
Wednesday, August 12th 2009 at 11:35AM
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