Obama takes on Glenn Beck and 'tea party' critics over healthcare
The raging debate over healthcare continued Saturday with the two major political antagonists trumpeting their arguments for and against changes in policy that could impact every American.
That would be President Obama and -- no, not Congressman Joe 鈥淵ou Lie!鈥� Wilson -- conservative broadcast dynamo Glenn Beck.
On his Saturday morning radio and YouTube broadcast, of 鈥渁n anxiety that鈥檚 keeping more and more Americans awake at night.鈥�
鈥淥ver the last twelve months, nearly six million more Americans lost their health coverage -- that鈥檚 17,000 men and women every single day. We鈥檙e not just talking about Americans in poverty, either -- we鈥檙e talking about middle-class Americans. In other words, it can happen to anyone 鈥� I refuse to allow that future to happen. In the United States of America, no one should have to worry that they鈥檒l go without health insurance -- not for one year, not for one month, not for one day. And once I sign my health reform plan into law -- they won鈥檛.鈥�
Then the President boarded Air Force One for a quick trip to Minneapolis for a rally on health insurance reform.
Meanwhile, back in Washington Beck was broadcasting live on the Fox News Channel as part of something he鈥檚 dubbed The occasion was a 鈥渢ea party鈥� march and rally organized by to protest the 鈥渋rresponsible government takeover of our nation鈥檚 healthcare, devastating new energy taxes, and trillions of dollars in red ink.鈥�
Some 450 tour buses were expected to bring protesters from around the country. FreedomWorks spokesman that it would be 鈥渢he largest gathering of fiscal conservatives that we鈥檝e ever had in the nation鈥檚 capital.鈥� Indeed, that 鈥渢ens of thousands gathered in 鈥� a massive demonstration.鈥�
鈥淣obody鈥檚 standing up for us, so we have to stand up for ourselves,鈥� said Phil Chancey, 66, who drove to the District from Clinton, Tenn., for the rally. The sign he carried, deriding the president healthcare reform plan, read, 鈥淥BAMACARE MAKES ME SICK.鈥�
In Minneapolis, meanwhile, Obama spoke for 40 minutes to what seemed like an enthusiastic campaign event -- rallying the faithful and no doubt gaining personal political energy himself. For one thing, he said, the crowd was 鈥渁 lot more fun鈥� than the members of Congress he had addressed Wednesday evening.
There, and in his radio address, he pointed to new data that adds up to sobering news for many Americans -- especially the middle class comprising most of the population of those who already have health insurance.
Based on a sample of more than 17,000 respondents from 1997 to 2006, a found that 48 percent of Americans are uninsured at some point in a 10-year span and that the number jumped to 57 percent when taking people under age 21 into account.
"If you're under the age of 21 today, chances are more than half that you'll find yourself uninsured at some point" over the next decade, . "And more than one-third of Americans will go without coverage for longer than one year."
As Congress gets closer to settling on a healthcare reform bill, you can be sure that the President -- and his detractors -- will become even more vocal on the issue.
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