Healthcare Reform Will Have to Wait Until October

  Earlier today President Obama admitted that there will most likely be no vote on healthcare reform until October. While this is a major blow to the president’s agenda it can only be seen as a victory for most Americans.

This bill, even in the best-case scenario, will not be signed — we won’t even vote on it probably until the end of September or the middle of October

    While the president will likely try to blame Republicans for delaying this bill, and while I would love to give all of the credit to Republicans for delaying this bill, that is part of the story but only one part. The truth is that Democrats could pass this bill without one single Republican vote so there is more to this than just what the president would call Republican obstructionism. The full truth is that the Democrat party is split on this legislation with Blue Dog Democrats also obstructing this bill’s passage. Obama claimed that he would work in a bipartisan manner and the effort to slow this bill down has realized Obama’s bipartisan pledge. There has been a bipartisan effort to stop this bill. President Obama has not been able to unite his own party behind his agenda.

  President Obama imposed a deadline on this bill and the deadline will pass without a vote. There is a reason that Obama wanted to push this bill through so fast– he didn’t want the American people to have the opportunity to see what is in this bill. But the American people have seen large portions of it and public support for this legislation has been falling ever since. This coupled with the fact that a recent poll showed 85% of Americans were happy with their healthcare presents a problem for the president with the news that the deadline will not be met.

  The president’s poll numbers have fallen as debate on this issue has dragged on and while the president probably attributes his falling poll numbers  to healthcare reform supporters losing patience with him I do not believe that is the case, 80% of Democrats still support him. I believe that the American people are beginning to realize how radical this bill is becoming and because of this they are beginning to realize that Barack Obama is a radical. This is not what many people thought that they were voting for.

  People are starting to take a close look at this bill, much to the chagrin of the president, and they do not like what they see in it. Now that it looks as though Obama’s deadline will pass without a vote it is time for the American people to do what Obama was trying to avoid– it is time to make ourselves heard.

  This admission by the president has given us a little bit of time. We need to voice our opinion loud and clear. I ask that everyone who opposes this legislation call their representative and senators and make sure you loudly oppose this bill. Make it known that if your senators and representative votes for this bill you will vote against them.

  This is President Obama’s worse nightmare– a legislature that hears from their constituents and kills the biggest plank on the president’s platform. That is why he wanted to move so quickly, he doesn’t want us to have a chance to weigh in, but weigh in we must.

  If we are loud enough, and if there are enough of us, Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats, who when push comes to shove above all else want to win re-election and hold onto their power, will listen to us. They will have no choice.

  Do not let this opportunity pass, it is probably the last chance that we have to stop this bill.