"And, I mean it!"

What? “And, I mean it?” I’ve been considering that comment for days, now.

As I watched the presidential speech regarding health care reform orated by President Obama on July 17th, I couldn’t help but be surprised at the comment: “And, I mean it!” It seemed out-of-character and as though the usually intelligent, eloquent speaker could think of no other effective way to establish his point.

President Obama stressed in his speech that health care reform will be completed this year. My initial reaction: Why? If health care reform is so important to so many people, why rush such an important piece of legislation that will completely alter how health care operates in this country. Wouldn’t the American people prefer health care reform that better suited the needs and wants of the people and the medical professionals, even if it required another year or two to tweak the details and make certain we could pay for it, as opposed to quick legislation that will cause us more financial and health care problems than we have now? What is the sudden rush?

Another point President Obama made was that health care reform would not increase the deficit as some have been recently reporting. Yet, “And, I mean it,” did absolutely nothing to answer the questions of the country or increase confidence, particularly when coming from the administration who “misread” the economy, thereby trying to explain why unemployment has risen higher than predicted.

Although President Obama seemed fairly certain where two-thirds of the cost of health care reform will come from, he failed to thoroughly explain who or how the final third would be paid; more importantly, he did not explain how cutting Medicare and Medicaid would not increase the health care problems and costs facing the growing population of the elderly. Furthermore, if a portion of the program will be funded by eliminating wasteful government spending, then why hasn’t the wasteful spending been eliminated already, health reform or not? And, of course, the issue of increasing taxes on a very small percentage of wealthy Americans to pay for a number of reforms for the majority of Americans still weighs heavily on the conscience of many.

Perhaps instead of worrying about achieving health care reform at a rapid pace, President Obama and his administration need to spend more quality time working on unemployment rates, on the economy, although the economy and health care costs are related. It’s no wonder that the comments regarding jobs created or saved due to the Stimulus have ceased coming from the administration; people realize that it has no meaning when millions have lost their income since the Stimulus, not to mention that the administration has not even attempted to specifically cite which jobs have been “saved.” (A field is not a specific job.)

Now, there are rumors abounding of the possibility of a second Stimulus even though only a tiny fragment of the original Stimulus has been spent. Perhaps this is because the Stimulus truly wasn’t a “stimulus” but, rather, a long-term spending plan that had little, if anything, to do with the current state of the economy. A second stimulus would likely be no different.

In addition to health care, many institutions in America are in need of reform, but that does not mean that they must all be reformed at the same time or that America can throw money we neither have nor will have at projects we can’t afford. America has always been a nation of proud, hard-working people who prefer to earn the income for the house, groceries and various other expenses. And, what people want at this time more than any reform is good, full-time jobs.

And, I mean it.