I received the following email from Barack Obama personally Monday morning at 1:06am:
James —
For the first time in our nation’s history, Congress has passed comprehensive health care reform. America waited a hundred years and fought for decades to reach this moment. Tonight, thanks to you, we are finally here.
Consider the staggering scope of what you have just accomplished:
Because of you, every American will finally be guaranteed high quality, affordable health care coverage.
Every American will be covered under the toughest patient protections in history. Arbitrary premium hikes, insurance cancellations, and discrimination against pre-existing conditions will now be gone forever.And we’ll finally start reducing the cost of care — creating millions of jobs, preventing families and businesses from plunging into bankruptcy, and removing over a trillion dollars of debt from the backs of our children.
But the victory that matters most tonight goes beyond the laws and far past the numbers.
It is the peace of mind enjoyed by every American, no longer one injury or illness away from catastrophe.
It is the workers and entrepreneurs who are now freed to pursue their slice of the American dream without fear of losing coverage or facing a crippling bill.
And it is the immeasurable joy of families in every part of this great nation, living happier, healthier lives together because they can finally receive the vital care they need.
This is what change looks like.
My gratitude tonight is profound. I am thankful for those in past generations whose heroic efforts brought this great goal within reach for our times. I am thankful for the members of Congress whose months of effort and brave votes made it possible to take this final step. But most of all, I am thankful for you.
This day is not the end of this journey. Much hard work remains, and we have a solemn responsibility to do it right. But we can face that work together with the confidence of those who have moved mountains.
Our journey began three years ago, driven by a shared belief that fundamental change is indeed still possible. We have worked hard together every day since to deliver on that belief.
We have shared moments of tremendous hope, and we’ve faced setbacks and doubt. We have all been forced to ask if our politics had simply become too polarized and too short-sighted to meet the pressing challenges of our time. This struggle became a test of whether the American people could still rally together when the cause was right — and actually create the change we believe in.
Tonight, thanks to your mighty efforts, the answer is indisputable: Yes we can.
Thank you,
President Barack Obama
BTW, the bold in the email above is in the original.
When I read the nonsense in the email above, I can’t tell whether President Obama really believes what he says:
Does Obama honestly believe that “Every American will be covered”?
Does Obama honestly believe that “workers and entrepreneurs . . . are now freed to pursue their slice of the American dream”?
Does Obama honestly believe that “we’ll finally start reducing the cost of care”?
Does Obama honestly believe that we’ll be “creating millions of jobs”?
Does Obama honestly believe that we’ll be “preventing families and businesses from plunging into bankruptcy”?
Does Obama honestly believe that we’ll be “removing over a trillion dollars of debt from the backs of our children”?
I’m afraid that Obama may be right on one thing — this may be what change looks like: we now have the most partisan, most polarizing presidency since Richard Nixon’s.
And maybe Randy Barnett is right; maybe we do need a constitutional convention to try to limit the federal government to something closer to its originally intended powers.
[NOTE: A few minutes after posting this, I added and then removed a brief discussion of the extent of coverage and President Obama’s tendency for wishful thinking–because the latter is an issue that deserves a much fuller treatment.]
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