Via John Kerry:
“As Ted Kennedy said, across the decades, in the best and the most discouraging hours, health care was the cause of his life. Tonight that cause becomes more than a dream, it becomes America’s commitment.
“This landmark moment belongs to President Barack Obama, to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the courageous members of the House, and to the colleagues he cherished in the Senate. Most of all, it belongs to America — and it is one of the rare legislative achievements that belongs to the ages.
“When Ted stood with Barack Obama in 2008, he said he had new hope that we would break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American — north, south, east, west, young, old — would have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege. And now they do and from now on they will.
“In the last words he wrote, Ted said that ‘if you persevere, stick with it, work at it, you have a real opportunity to achieve something. Sure, there will be storms along the way. And you might not reach your goal right away. But if you do your best and keep a true compass, you’ll get there.’ Ted knew we would get here, and all of us who loved him and shared his hopes for America are deeply grateful.”
The dream will never die….
It isn’t a perfect bill, for sure, but it damn sure changes the dynamics of health care in this country. Hell, my wife and I are STILL paying for colonoscopys, endoscopys, prostate checkups, and x-rays from years ago that have kept on adding up—-and we HAD health insurance! Now, at least, that stuff will be covered 100%!!!
I’ve been a critic of Obama—and, no doubt, will continue to critisize him when’s wrong. But I thing he got the best bill he could get under the circumstances. Let’s see where he goes from here.
Dandy,
this is the bill that James Roosevelt, the head of the Rules and Bylaws Committee that gave Obama four of Clinton’s delegates and all of the uncommitted delegates in Michigan, while docking the states Clinton won of half their delegates. That’s all this is – nothing more.
This isn’t the best bill he could have gotten. it’s the bill he promised to get in order to secure the nomination. People like me who pay for health care out of pocket are going to be devastated by this bill. From what I can see, people like me are going to be so tied up paying for premiums, that we’ll never be able to afford the copay. This bill may very well cost me my life.