Obama's Speech Last Night

Last night the president put forth what was supposed to be his greatest case for his "plan" for health care reform. The speech was filled with lines tailor made for applause, idealistic rhetoric, and veiled attacks on basically anyone who disagrees with the "plan."

There were many, many lies in the speech. I wish to address two. He said,

"Now, I have no interest in putting insurance companies out of business. They provide a legitimate service, and employ a lot of our friends and neighbors."

This is an outright lie. His desire is to eliminate private health insurance. He is on tape saying so.

In 2003, at an AFL-CIO conference, Obama said,

"I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care program. I see no reason why the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, spending 14 percent of its Gross National Product on health care cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody. And that’s what Jim is talking about when he says everybody in, nobody out. A single payer health care plan, a universal health care plan. And that’s what I’d like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we have to take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate, and we have to take back the House."

Was he lying then, or is he lying now? The Whitehouse says the video is "cherry picked" and does not reflect the president's actual views. Where do you think Mr. Obama would be more honest, in front of the entire House and Senate and millions of skeptical citizens, or before a group of his most ardent supporters during a speech where he may or may not have known it would be put on the internet?

Second, last night president Obama said,

"Now, it is -- it's worth noting that a strong majority of Americans still favor a public insurance option of the sort I've proposed tonight. "

No poll I have ever seen has been a majority, let alone a "strong majority." Rasmussen reported that 53% oppose his plan, and only 43% support it. According to opencongress.org (which everyone should use), only 20% of users support HR3200 (which is the only publicly available health care reform "plan").

Throughout the speech he spoke of the perils of "doing nothing," "meeting the challenge," and of "building the future." I thought I would help him out and make a couple posters he can use to spread his message: