Poll: Mixed News For Obama, Nothing New For Republicans

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The Washington Post-ABC News poll was released.  There’s mixed news for the Obama administration but no major improvements for republicans.  The poll finds his overall approval numbers are 59-39%, which is good considering the state of the country.

The big issue right now is health care reform.  On the question of “Do you approve or disapprove of the way Obama is handling [Health care]?”, more approve of his handling on health care 49-44% with 7% with no opinion on this. On, “Who do you trust to do a better job handling [Health care reform] – (Obama) or the (Republicans in Congress)?” there was much support for Pres. Obama.  54% trusted Pres. Obama on health care compared to the 34% that trusted republicans.  And asked whether they support the government health care plan, 54% approved, opposed to 43%.  It seems Pres. Obama still has good will on the issue of health care, but his message and campaigning on this has just begun.  Since that’s the case, I would actually expect these numbers to go up after Obama and third parties let the American people know about this plan.

Democrats and Republicans in congress both have approval ratings in the same ranges as before.  Democrats have an approval of 47% with disapproval of 48%.  Republicans have a low approval of 38% and disapproval of 58%.  These numbers shouldn’t be any surprise, especially to the republican party.  I think they should appear to be more productive instead of obstructionist.  Democrats should maybe work out a better PR strategy.

Pres. Obama still has an advantage over the republicans on all issues concerning the economy, deficit, Afghanistan and health care.  This however is just one poll, more polls then not, however are showing that the majority supports health care reform happening this year.  Which is why I don’t think it’s a good idea for republicans to try to axe health care reform.  The American people want some change on this issue.  Assuming the current H.R. 3200 bill won’t be accepted as is, moderate republicans definitely have a chance like before, to get their voices heard on this issue.  Even though this is one poll, most seem to agree that the public doesn’t trust republicans in congress on this issue of health care.  They still have a lot of work to do but, I have a feeling this is just the beginning of a beautiful journey of passing health care reform /sarcasm.

I would recommend reading the White House agenda/progress and visiting the website devoted to health care reform called Health Reform.  This way, you can get the facts from the source rather then listen to the others who obviously, aren’t fond of Obama, lie about the facts.

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Obama Hits Back On Health Care, Targets Jim DeMint

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President Obama hit back against those in Washington, particularly those like Jim DeMint (R-SC).  Jim DeMint said that he’ll stop health care reform and break Pres. Obama by doing so.  While he’s putting his politics ahead of the American people, many in his home state aren’t getting the care they deserve.  It’s fine if you don’t agree, but the point is that there’s going to be a health care bill and Jim DeMint can either be an obstructionist or work with democrats to compromise.  If you ask me, theres little need for compromise on the costs when CBO released today that H.R. 3200 (health care reform bill) is deficit neutral, just like Pres. Obama requested.  Jim DeMint gave Obama the perfect opportunity to lay out the real difference between many republicans on the hill from democrats in congress.  Here’s Obama mentioning Jim DeMint and below is also a video of Pres. Obama’s full remarks on health care.

Full remarks

CBO Report Actually Confirms Deficit Neutrality of the Health Care Bill

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Good news for Pres. Obama and those looking forward to a passage of some healthcare reform bill this year.  The media fails to do their job by covering the report fully and what the CBO says on this issue.  The CBO (Congressional Budget Office) reported that the H.R. 3200 bill is deficit neutral over ten years and even produces a surplus because of savings and provisions in the bill.  Here’s the CBO report,

Washington, D.C. — The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released estimates this evening confirming for the first time that H.R. 3200, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, is deficit neutral over the 10-year budget window – and even produces a $6 billion surplus.  CBO estimated more than $550 billion in gross Medicare and Medicaid savings.  More importantly, the bill includes a comprehensive array of delivery reforms to set the stage for lowering the future growth in health care costs.

Net Medicare and Medicaid savings of $465 billion, coupled with the $583 billion revenue package reported today by the House Committee on Ways and Means, fully finance the previously estimated $1.042 trillion cost of reform, which will provide affordable health care coverage for 97% of Americans.

“This fulfills the strong commitment of the President and House leadership to enact health reform on a deficit-neutral basis,” said Chairman Henry A. Waxman, Chairman Charles B. Rangel, and Chairman George Miller.  “The reforms included in this legislation will help control health care costs and expand access to quality, affordable coverage to all Americans in a fiscally-responsible manner.”

The estimates also cover important reinvestments in Medicare and Medicaid, including phasing in the closing of the “donut” hole in the Medicare drug benefit.  The bill’s long-term reform of Medicare’s physician fee schedule to eliminate the potential 21 percent cut in fees, and put payments on a sustainable basis for the future, will cost about $245 billion.  Those costs, however, are not included in the net calculations above, as they will be absorbed under the upcoming statutory “pay go” legislation that is pending in the House.

U.S. GDP Improving

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A little glimmer of progress…. Peter Orszag, budget director, sees the GDP improving.  From Reuters via Boston.com,

Second-quarter US gross domestic product figures are likely to be better than the first quarter’s, showing some signs of improvements in the economy, Peter Orszag, White House budget director, said yesterday.

Asked about Federal Reserve estimates of 9.5 to 9.8 percent for US unemployment in 2010, Orszag said: “It’s going to take time to work our way out of this. I’m not disputing that.’’

First-quarter GDP, which measures total output within US borders, contracted slightly less at a 5.5 percent annual rate instead of the previously reported 5.7 percent, the Commerce Department said June 25.

“The second-quarter GDP numbers, even though they’re likely to still show a decline, are likely to look a lot better than the first quarter, which is a sign of progress,’’ Orszag told CNN.

Orszag said the feeling of fear and panic in financial markets had dissipated and the White House was focused on job growth, consumption, and net exports, all key drivers of economic activity.

Although there are signs of progress, Orszag cautioned it was going to take time for the US economy to recover, especially with unemployment expected to rise further.

“You can’t go from job losses of 700,000 a month, which was what was happening in the months leading up to January, to job growth like that, you know, just instantaneously,’’ Orszag told Fox.

Not much but it does show some improvement.  Until then, I’d like to direct you here.

Fox News Guest Thinks Captured Soldier Should Be Killed

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And poor little Julie Banderas is the one that had to interview this nutcase.  The nutcase in question is Ralph Peters.  He says that we shouldn’t judge til the fact are straight and then presumes that the soldier deserted his camp on purpose basically suggesting wholeheartedly he committed some act of treason.  He goes further by suggesting that the Taliban should kill him because of this.  ABC reported that,  “Defense officials said it appeared he somehow left his base in Paktika Province at night, likely accompanied by several Afghan soldiers, and that his disappearance wasn’t noted until the following day when his body armor and rifle were found in his quarters”.  Here’s Ralph Peters’ appearance on Fox News,

We don’t have the full facts and our number one goal should be to get that soldier back into U.S. military custody, not bash and mislead the public about this soldier.

DeMint Gets Desperate, Says He’ll Bring The Pain

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Sen. Jim DeMint, republican of South Carolina, continues the newest legacy of the GOP.  That is, being apart of the Party of No and calling the government socialists.  He’s definitely trying to bring down health care reform, something the majority of Americans want.  He said, he’d “break” Obama over health care reform and that he’ll bring “pain” to his senate peers.  Was that necessary?

I’m pretty sure that republicans will come out as losers on this.  Two things working against them.  If they constantly say no to everything Obama does without providing a better alternative plan then they rightfully look like obstructionist on an issue that needs to be taken care of.  If republicans do stop health care reform from happening, then they just went against the majority of Americans who want this to happen.  They also validate what many Americans think of the republican party, which is a party mainly influenced by self-interest, lobbyists and big business.  They either come up with a better alternative and comprise with Senate democrats and the White House or they stop complaining.