Republicans have told the President that he should start from scratch on reforming the nation's health care. They told him this at the beginning of the highly anticipated White House summit on Health Care. They also renounced an unusual move to aviod a Republican filibuster. This move is called reconciliation, a procedure that would pass a bill with a majority of 51 votes. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rejected Senator Lamar-Alexander's, (R-Tenn), call for a promise from Democrats that they wouldn't use reconciliation. "We believe we have a better idea," said Senator Alexander. Obama said that both parties should focus on the stuff they agree with, like reducing health care costs. He said that after agreeing, then look at the stuff Republicans and Democrats disagree on, and then we'll assess whether we can bridge the differences. "I don't know yet whether we can," the president said. "My hope is that we can. I'm going to be very eager to hear and explore how we might do so."
My Opinion: Good for the Republicans. In his State of the Union address, Obama specifically asked Republicans to add their ideas, and that if anyone had a better idea, he was all ears. He needs to remember this and listen to Republicans. Pretty much saying that they will use reconciliation to pass what they want doesn't make him or his party look like they want to work together with "bipartisanship." It makes the Democrats look like they will get this health care passed through hell or high water. Enough is enough. Work together. However, I get real tired of this talk about bipartisianship. I mean, it is okay to a certain point, but if everybody is in the middle, it almost makes people look spineless. Republicans need to stick to their ideals and Democrats need to stick with their ideals. It almost seems that Democrats always call for bipartisianship when they want Republicans to do whatever they want. Enough. Some working together, but not spineless caving to whatever they want. Maybe Obama should take a serious look at the Republican's plan and then they can see about working together.
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