by Fred Tolleson

Created on: March 25, 2010

The Democratic Party candidate Barack Obama ran on a promise to enact universal health care.  He didn't make it all the way to the universal package, but what was produced will long be remembered as the best effort in almost a century of effort.  This package of benefits is still receiving the political blessings of the Senate, which will occur in a day or so,  and then receive the final result of a Presidential signing.  These last amendments to the main bill are numerous and fix grievous errors on both sides of the aisle.

President Obama will receive a ton of credit for this monumental effort to bring health care to all Americans.  Much credit goes to the many politicians who attempted to climb this mountain and got stuck in a "white out" of congressional maneuvering, lobbying by the insurance industry and various other sources.  The President had the courage and patience to wait for all of these forces to spend their  efforts and then close in for the victory. 

The Republican Party put up a huge fight to stop enactment of this bill.  All stops were pulled, the fringe right folks were called out and people were shouting at the President as he spoke on more than one occasion.  The distrust they attempted to stir up by utilizing friends in the media was believable and intense.  Now that they have lost, one would have to wonder where all this bombast and verbal pummeling will leave the Republican Party.  There is an election in a few months and the Democrats will undoubtedly point out the error of their ways to the electorate.  If it should turn out that the Republicans actually lose seats in both houses as a result of their rash actions it might set the party back for 20-30 years.

The Insurance Industry certainly distinguished themselves as enemies of health insurance reform.  They spent millions of dollars to stop this bill and were unsuccessful.  They hired three (3) lobbyists for each member of Congress, by one count, and they were ganging up on key members of congress to the extent that regular business hit a standstill.  While they met with the President  and had the usual photo ops and good words for the post meeting press review, their lobbyists were invading congress with a message that could only be branded as "stop this bill at any cost".  The more they wiggled and squirmed, the more it became evident they were unable to get the job done thru traditional

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