Thursday, September 10, 2009

President Obama's Health Care Reform Speech

Image credit: CBS News

Last night, President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress (and the nation) about health care reform. Pundits from everywhere have put in their two-cents about what the speech means, who it was for, and the merits of specific policy points.

Today on New Voices, we'd like to hear you be the pundits (we'll join in the fun too).

What sections of the speech stood out to you?

How is this like/different from the president's other national addresses?

Do you think the plan has any hope?

The comments section is open for discussion.

2 comments:

  1. "Do you think the plan has any hope?"

    The speech certainly increased the amount of hope for the plan; it had a significant effect on public opinion, increasing national support by more than ten percent:

    "Sixty-seven percent of Americans who watched the president’s speech said they favor his health care plans, a 14-point gain over the level of support before the speech, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. national poll." (http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003199678)

    Results of a CBS poll also indicate increased support, though the numbers aren't quite as high (which I think probably has something to do with the survey samples):

    "Last week, just 40 percent of these adults [678 of them] approved of how the president was handling health care. More, 47 percent, disapproved. After the speech, 52 percent said they approved and only 38 percent said they disapproved. Those are the best assessments for Mr. Obama's handling of health care shown all year by CBS News Polls." (http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/09/11/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5302288.shtml?tag=stack)

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  2. Health care or not, I’m partisan to a president that can lower my taxes and fix what the housing market “greed” created… Just get the job market back up and avoid more scams…including “communism”

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