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White House press secretary deflected questions about President Obama’s relative low profile on the two year anniversary of his landmark health reform law.
Republicans were quick to note that Obama didn’t make any public statement in commemoration of the law, but the White House rejected the idea that it considers the law a political liability.
When asked by a reporter during the daily briefing whether the White House considered health care reform to be a “political liability,” Carney exclaimed, “No!”
He referred the reporter to a documentary-style video, posted by the president’s re-election campaign, which goes through a brief chronology of the legislation and features testimony from the president and Vice President Biden.
Carney also noted that the White House issued a report Friday detailing the aspects of the law that have already been implemented, peppered with testimony from individuals who say they’ve been helped by some of its provisions.
That report was accompanied by a written statement by the president: “Today, two years after we passed health care reform, more young adults have insurance, more seniors are saving money on their prescription drugs, and more Americans can rest easy knowing they won’t be dropped from their insurance plans if they get sick. The law has made a difference for millions of Americans, and over time, it will help give even more working and middle-class families the security they deserve.”
But while the president did appear publicly today, he did not make a live comment on the law, instead announcing the nomination of Dartmouth president Jim Yong Kim to be World Bank president, in addition to commenting on the Trayvon Martin shooting case.
Meanwhile, some of the Republicans seeking to unseat Obama said the absence of a public event commemorating the law’s signing proved the White House was seeking to distance itself from a politically unpopular policy. (A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll found that Americans oppose the law 52-41 percent overall, with 67 percent believing the law, or at least the individual mandate portion, should be repealed.)
Campaigning in West Monroe, Louisiana today, Rick Santorum said of the law’s birthday: “There's a reason he's not saying anything about it. It's a horribly unpopular bill, because it robs people of their economic freedom and forces them to do things that are against their own religious beliefs.”
And Mitt Romney, whose Massachusetts health care plan the Obama re-election campaign has characterized as the basis for the president’s plan, penned an op-ed in USA today called “Why I’d Repeal Obamacare.”
Speaking in Metairie, Louisiana at an event titled, “Repeal & Replace Obamacare,” Romney said that the president was not making public statements on the law “for a reason: Most Americans want to get rid of it and we’re among those Americans, I want to get rid of it too."
The Republican National Committee has also been staging a weeklong messaging campaign against the law, hanging a banner on their Washington D.C. headquarters that said, “Happy Birthday Obamacare!” And RNC spokesman Sean Spicer wrote in an email Friday that the president “doesn't want to defend” the law.
Carney today said the bill was not more popular because its benefits have been obfuscated by big-dollar ad campaigns against the legislation, and that the administration was more focused on implementing the law than it was countering attacks.
He lamented “the amount of money spent in the propaganda PR wars on this issue, 3-1 at least spent against the affordable care act and efforts to mischaracterize and mislead Americans about what it is.”
As First Read wrote earlier, a Kantar Media Campaign Media Analysis Group study found that supporters of the health care law had in fact been outspent 2-1 by opponents of the law, not 3-1 as Carney asserted.
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You mean The video that REPEATS the LIES Obama told about his dying mother?
The mother who died without her son bothering to visit her?
That video?
Right. You keep believing that radical right wing crap your crazy a$$ base is feeding you, and your low information friends, who don't know their end from a hole in the ground.
Hey, First Read --
What's he supposed to do? Throw a birthday party?
Can you even imagine what no joe would say if he did THAT?
Oh, no joe ... what a surprise ... there you are.
What WOULD you say, no joe?
Uh, Job 1- do they let you read newspapers in the cult?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obamas-mother-had-health-insurance-according-to-biography/2011/07/14/gIQAUFm7EI_story.html
The biographer, by the way, is a New York Times reporter.
Obama stated that he "did not refute" the account. I guess it's hard to lie with the truth staring you in the face- even for him.
Did not stop him repeating the lies.
This is not hyperbole- right or left- these are lies.
Of the lowest sort.
Well heck now, they threw a party last year:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/03/24/celebrating-one-year-anniversary-affordable-care-act
Wonder what the difference is this year?
I don't know WCA, maybe the cost? I guess that might be a problem. But a year was a long time ago.
paul -- the cost??? from a White House that spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars so the President could see a basketball game? The President has no concept of cost which is why he is the President that has led the country to the largest debt in the shortest time in history -- out doing Bush 43 in just over 3 years.
No one seems to care about health-care until one needs health-care...
No one ever thinks they are going to get sick until it's too late...
It's only the other people that get sick, until the day your doctor decides to run a few test, and bingo, he say's, get you affairs in order... The republicans are playing with the lives of millions of people...
"He referred the reporter to a documentary-style video, posted by the president’s re-election campaign, which goes through a brief chronology of the legislation and features testimony from the president and Vice President Biden."
As the Washington Post has reported, but MSNBC has ignored, the documentary continues the blatant falsehoods concerning health insurance coverage of the President's mother before her death. The documentary infers, yet again, that Obama's mother fought her insurance company for coverage. This was supposedly the reason Obama fought so hard for ObamaCare. Only one problem; the story is false. Obama's mother had health insurance and her care was covered. She did have a dispute concerning disability insurance, a separate issue.
Right. You keep believing that radical right wing crap your crazy a$$ base is feeding you, and your low information friends, who don't know their rear end from a hole in the ground.
"(A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll found that Americans oppose the law 52-41 percent overall, with 67 percent believing the law, or at least the individual mandate portion, should be repealed.)"
So a whopping 67% believe at least part of Obamacare should be repealed...and First Read in a previous article claimed Americans were "split" on this issue...LOL
Heck yes, Bob.
We should definitely repeal the individual mandate. Leave the rest as it is, but let's ditch that one small section.
That's what your beef is about, right?
See, I want socialized medicine. That's medicine for everyone. And the one thing this healthcare bill does NOT do is socialize medicine.
Quite the opposite.
It demands everyone be responsible for their own insurance, and not allow the state to pay for medical care.
I disagree with that, and want a western-world medical system and not our currently-antiquated system.
The one thing standing in my way?
Insurance companies and the lobbies they bring to bear.
The lobbies which got the individual mandate in there.
Let's repeal that mandate. The insurance industry will die overnight, and then we can talk about a REAL solution the ongoing problem.
Mmkay? Sound good to you?
More Obama Lies....
You can run but you can not hide. Obama and Pelosi put this piece of crap together now take responsibility.
Good luck in November.
That's what happens when a deal happens behind closed doors. We'll see next week whether it goes away or not.
[That's what happens when a deal happens behind closed doors.]
Sorry Paul...that is false...Republicans had about a year to read and understand the proposed healthcare bill. They knew EXACTLY what was in it.
To say that Healthcare Reform happened behind closed doors is simply not true.
Sorry Raab...it's "healthcare for all", not "heathcare for only those that can afford it". Times have changed, Raab...time to step up to the plate and embrace your fellow man.
mickey -- as did Speaker Pelosi have a chance to read but clearly stated that she had not when commenting that we would have to pass the bill to see what's in the bill.
it was done behind closed doors, lies were told to gain its passage -- the real costs are becoming apparent as the 4 years of little coverage come to a close -- nearly double now for the next ten years than President Obama promised, and now an estimate that 20 million will lose their company health insurance plans -- you can keep your coverage if you like it -- may have been the President's biggest lie.
Not for long Mickey - Obama should have studied his constitutional law a little bit more
The President said that all proceedings would be broadcast on CSPAN and that did not happen. Quite a few meetings to which Republicans were not invited were held at the White House with CSPAN cameras not present in violation of what the President had told the American people. I am still waiting for the President to go over the health care bill. "line by line", with my congressman as he had promised.
James, try reading the ENTIRE Pelosi comment...you are conveniently cherry picking the portions of her ENTIRE comment to suit your agenda.
This bill certainly was not "done behind closed doors" as you profess, and Republicans certainly had enough opportunity to inject their $0.02 into the equation, but chose to deride it instead of contributing to it. Republicans had approximately one full year in which to do this. As the bill progressed, it was posted online...that is why you find several versions of the bill. Hardly "behind closed doors", don't you think?
And just because we don't understand something doesn't make it a lie...less factual perhaps, simply because we may not have all the facts on the issue.
I don't know where you get "as the 4 years of little coverage"...HCR was signed in 2009, hence all this non-troversy over it's two-year anniversary. HCR is being implemented in stages, not entirely all at once:
http://www.healthcare.gov/law/timeline/index.html
Of course the cost estimates are fluctuating...just as any other cost estimate would in positive economic times as well as bad. This is the reason for the cost disparity.
You most certainly can keep your current coverage, IF your employer chooses to keep it rather than go with something else...no fib concerning this...I believe it is up to your employer. If you like your current covreage, you might want to petition your employer to keep what they have.
Face it...Republicans missed the boat on this one, and it is nobodies fault but their own.
By all accounts Romneycare has been pretty successful. But he ducks the anniversary every year!
so your point is that if Geovernor Romney can duck then President Obama can duck? that's it? all you have for Mr. Hope and Change? just do what the others do?
pretty sad commentary on the President
The President promised to go over the health care bill. "line by line", with my congressman and every other law maker in Washington who requested it and that all proceedings would be broadcast on CSPAN. Does anyone know when these broadcasts that the President promised are scheduled to begin? In these broadcasts that the President promised, he is suppose to make more statements about the health care law than anyone would probably care to listen to. Hopefully these broadcasts will clear up any misconceptions that some of us might have about the law.
Obama, and his cast of clowns always duck, dodge, blame others and lie ! When it comes to Obamacare, I don't much blame them. It is the most disgusting piece of legislature in the history of our nation !
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