Showing posts with label Health Care Reform. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health Care Reform. Show all posts

Friday, January 01, 2016

What Did I Do?

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What Did I Do?

As a Barack Obama volunteer in 2007 and 2008 (I would not know much about 2008), you basically did two things. You knocked on doors. And you made phone calls. The guy had dumbed it down for the rest of us. While I mull about on foreign policy, here, you knock on doors. And you make some phone calls. If you might feel so enthused, here, knock on some more doors, make some more phone calls. It was almost patronizing. He read somewhere, 40% of Americans can’t point out the Pacific on a map. And so he be like, here, make some phone calls, and knock on some doors. Some of his most impassioned speeches were like, “If you will just knock on some doors for me, if you will just make some phone calls for me ……..” And then he would taper off. People be like, you got the looks. I am making the phone calls.

The more creative and original among us naturally gravitated towards the phone call regimen. But no, even there they gave you a script. Here, read this out. That took out the possibility of originality. There was no room for how you feel about Obama, and how it all came out to be, and what your particular story is that might inspire the person on the other end. None of that.

Too bad Donald Trump picked up a fight with Jeff Bezos or, for as uninspiring as he is, he could be hiring Amzon turks this season. Here, make some phone calls for me. He fills up auditoriums with struggling actors. Amazon turks are just a few blocks down that road.

I did not give Obama credit for the stimulus. I am like, he is filling a ditch he did not dig. The credit goes to Bush. This is too Soviet. But by the time health care reform showed up. You know when you volunteer for someone who becomes president, when you see him on TV, things like that, you feel a certain connection. I mean, I did meet the guy before he became president. When he signs a major bill, you feel like maybe you had something to do with. But then he soon became really unreachable. Health care was (and is) in this country so complex an issue that when he did get it passed, I am like, what did I do? Health care was supposed to be this issue. They have god, gay and guns. We have health care. It was supposed to just stick around permanently as an issue that you emote about. It was not supposed to be solved. No one was expecting any kind of resolution. And he goes ahead and solves. And I am like, what did I do? I did knock on some doors, and made some phone calls, but what is this?

Cuba really knocked me out. You don’t expect the Rocky Mountains to move. I was left scratching my head. What did I do? I did knock on some doors, and made some phone calls, but what is this?

I mean, I did take credit for Iowa. Like, deeply, personally. I met Michelle Obama at a Harlem event in the summer of 2007. I said, “You give us Iowa, we will give you New York. We will make it quick and painless for Hillary.” And she delivered oh so handsomely. And I am like, Michelle, we are talking! Not New York, but we almost delivered Brooklyn. We had Anthony Weiner worried. Hillary, you need to make one trip to Brooklyn. And she did. Make one trip. To Brooklyn.

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Crisis: Opportunity For Greatness For Obama


This crisis is an opportunity to take big steps towards an America that is taking clear strides towards a clean energy future where energy is abundant but clean - yes, that's possible - an America that is a knowledge economy with universal 100 MB broadband, a country of 75% college graduates, a country where health care is woven into the social fabric, an America where wellness has become part of the value system, and people eat right and are not overweight, an America that keeps churning the jobs, companies and industries of tomorrow because America forever continues to be a country of immigrants, a country that gets better and better at managing the newest waves of immigration, a country where there is room also for the unemployed, for perhaps there always will be some unemployed, and where there is dignity for those working the lowest paying jobs, a country where the minimum wage keeps rising because those on the cutting edge keep creating the newest waves of wealth, and some of that wealth gets passed on to everybody, because if it were not for the trust that everybody puts into the country's currency there would be no currency to speak of, and there would be no economy, and if it were not for everybody there would be no consumers, no voters, no citizens, no democracy, no economy, no country to speak of, an America that is finally no longer separated from the rest of humanity by two oceans, and shares a humane border with Mexico, an America of lifelong education, of universal health care, an America of total campaign finance reform, an America that is forever making strides, is forever fulfilling the mission it was born with, that of a universal spread of democracy, a country that is not only at peace with globalization, but one that shapes that globalization to make it just not only to technological capital, and financial capital, but also human capital, a country that takes the lead on shaping the global institutions so essential to a global community of nations, a country that has the humility to admit it is but one among many nations, that when it strives for greatness, to be and to stay the number one country, it does not have the intention to push down any other, but knows that in helping all the rest lift up is what makes it so great.




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Thursday, July 15, 2010

Immigration Now?

The corner of Wall Street and Broadway, showin...Image via Wikipedia
I blogged a while back suggesting immigration overhaul has to be saved for 2011, (Save Immigration For 2011) but that was when I was thinking Wall Street reform is going to take much of this year. It has taken much less time than I thought it would.

Now it has become wise to tackle immigration with the same swiftness. Get it done and over with. Immigration is an issue that can only be tackled at the federal level. If you let the states take a crack at it one after the other, you end up with the monkey business like in Arizona.

Obama's spectacular success with health care reform is what made swift work on Wall Street reform possible.

Now he gets to work the same magic on immigration. This has been the president's intent from the outset. He has wanted to do immigration overhaul this year. I stand with him now. His leadership on health care reform and Wall Street reform has convinced me he has the right schedule in mind for immigration.

Tackling immigration right away is also the right thing to do politically for the elections due in November. It will prevent some of the president's opponents from trying to cash on the irrational fears of some of his constituents.

New York Times: Financial Oversight Bill Signals Shift on Deregulation
.... a renewed mistrust of financial markets after decades .... cleared the Senate by a vote of 60 to 39, largely along party lines, after weeks of wrangling that allowed Democrats to pick up the three Republican votes to ensure passage ..... the culmination of nearly two years of fierce lobbying and intense debate ...... a catalog of repairs and additions to the rusted infrastructure of a regulatory system that has failed to keep pace with the expanding scope and complexity of modern finance. ...... a bill that reasserts the importance of federal supervision of financial transactions. ...... “The financial industry is central to our nation’s ability to grow, to prosper, to compete and to innovate. This reform will foster that innovation, not hamper it,” Mr. Obama said Thursday. “Unless your business model depends on cutting corners or bilking your customers, you have nothing to fear.” ..... Despite public anger at Wall Street, the vast majority of Republicans opposed the bill with loud confidence, betting ahead of hotly contested midterm elections that the public dislikes government even more. .......subjecting a wider range of financial companies to government oversight, and imposing regulation for the first time on “black markets” like the enormous trade in credit derivatives. ....... new powers to constrain and even dismantle troubled companies. ...... a simplified disclosure form for mortgage loans. ...... “You have to have rules that allow you to continue to get the benefit of the innovation but curtail abuses.” ...... The administration’s approach, which prevailed, instead is focused on giving existing regulators additional powers in the hope that they will produce better results. ........ “We can’t legislate wisdom or passion. We can’t legislate competency. All we can do is create the structures and hope that good people will be appointed who will attract other good people,” Mr. Dodd said.
(Via Reshma Saujani)
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Monday, May 31, 2010

Save Immigration For 2011

Official presidential portrait of Barack Obama...Image via Wikipedia
As to what will happen in November of this year is anyone's guess, but Obama has set his mind to make history again by doing the best he can to keep the House and the Senate. If he loses one chamber, the next two years start looking shaky in terms of legislative work.

Passing health care reform was historic, and puts Obama in the FDR league of greatness. Work on financial sector reform also looks promising. Success on health made work on finance easy.

Obama might get tempted to make as much headway as possible on immigration as well. His commitment to the issue is beyond doubt, and the Hispanic caucus might even argue that putting immigration reform front and center will ensure crucial Hispanic turnout. And the Hispanic voters tend to cast the deciding vote.

That might as well be the case, but my instinct tells me the best strategy would be keep the immigration issue alive but saving actual work on it to begin in early 2011, hopefully to be completed by the end of that year, if not earlier. Some of the passions exhibited during the health care debate were to do with a really bad economy. People were hurting and anxious.

Health care reform, financial sector reform, comprehensive immigration reform: these are huge issues, and huge accomplishments when work is completed.

By the end of 2011 though, as Obama gears for his reelection effort, he is going to have to talk deficits and debt loud and clear. He will have to run on the platform that he will have balanced the budget early in his second term. Actually hinting towards that eventuality might be a great theme to keep echoing in the lead up to November this year itself.

A nuanced strategy would be to begin work on immigration this year but barely, so it does rouse Hispanic turnout at the polls, enough to tilt the tide in favor of Obama keeping both chambers, but to do actual work after the election is over. It is because immigration is a volatile issue. The top priority for the rest of this year for Obama has to be to keep the House and keep the Senate.

Gulf Oil Spill
A Dirty Bomb Just Went Off In The Gulf
In South Africa They Had Apartheid, In America They Got Immigration
Do I Know Rajiv Shah?
The Obama FDR Parallels
Obama's Got Momentum: He Could Defy History In November
State Of The Union: In Good Hands
Supreme Court Vs. Obama
Iran: An Opportunity
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