Well the obvious answer to that question is, YES! Of course they are walking into a trap, the question is can they spring the trap on Obama and the Democrats to make them look even worse. Or, will the trap get sprung on them and they lose all credibility with the American people that have come out against any form of Obamacare.
The White House yesterday released their latest incarnation of Obamacare that takes most of its pieces from the Senate bill while sprinkling in some of the House version and topping it off with additional government control. At The Plum Line blog, Greg Sargent writes about WH communications director Dan Pfeiffer making it very clear that if the GOP makes an effort to block this latest attempt at government takeover of 1/5th of the economy they will move to reconciliation.
The MSM is already trying to paint the GOP into a corner with this “Summit” on Thursday by giving a postive spin on the proposal. Thanks to Brent Baker at Newsbusters for the information below:
The cost of this proposal from Obama is nearly $1,000,000,000,000. It is paid for by cutting Medicare by $500,000,000,000 and by raising taxes by $500,000,000,000. He proposes to create another Federal Agency that will put price controls on the insurance companies. Ask Jimmy Carter how government price controls worked for them in the 1970’s.
If Obama was serious about working with the GOP on a bipartisan healthcare plan, he would scrap what is pending in the Conference Committee and would not have proposed this take it or leave it plan he released Monday. The GOP cannot go into the meeting and allow Obama to set the pace and direct the conversation.
This is a time for Mr. Obama to listen since he claims that Republicans have not had an idea on a plan even though it has been posted on their
website since July 2009. As long as the Republicans stay focused and follow the direction of the American people, they will come out of this looking good.
From the Liberals perspective, this is all about making the Republicans the problem instead of their own party. They think that the American people don’t understand what is going on and if they can “prove” the Republicans are the party of no, they will regain the momentum going into the November elections.
Obama’s group, Organizing for America, claims that only big insurance companies and drug companies are opposed to their plan of government takeover. Since February 11th, they have been trying to get people to committ to volunteering for the Democrat incumbents if they pass their healthcare plan. Nevermind that every credible poll shows a majority of American’s do not like the plans that Obama, Reid and Pelosi have offered. Nevermind that 85% of American’s like their current coverage.
It’s like the famous line in The Wizard of Oz – “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!”
Any plan that does not address tort reform, portability of insurance and the ability to buy insurance across state lines will only lead to higher taxes, higher insurance premiums and less services available. A reform of the pre-existing condition clauses would also be a good idea, not the removal of these conditions. Just like executive pay, the government should not be in the business of regulating how much a private insurance company should charge for its services.
If the GOP does not bring these things to the table on Thursday, they will lose all of the momentum they have gained over the past year. So GOP, are you going to spring the trap or are you going to walk right into it?
God Bless,
American Dad