This week, President Obama gave two speeches that stirred the nation. The first, to students on the first day of school, raised the ire of right-wing groups.
Let me repeat that: Obama’s speech to schoolchildren raised the ire of right-wing groups. One group charged that he was attempting to “bypass parents and directly target their children in an effort to implement his political agenda” and went on to say that the effort might have been illegal. This particular argument noted that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan had selected Kevin Jennings as the assistant deputy secretary of the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools; Jennings was the founder of the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, which works to combat bullying and promote safe-schools initiatives.
In case you missed Tuesday’s speech, the president called on students to take responsibility for their own education and noted that education would be necessary for any career. He also said their future will determine the future of the country. Hardly partisan.
True, he discussed some of his own personal story of growing up in Indonesia and being raised by a single mom. And he recounted the stories of three students who faced difficult challenges and how they overcame them. He called on students to set goals and commit to working toward them. Again, hardly partisan.
On Wednesday, the president was to address Congress on healthcare and the reform efforts, which have been bogged down in both the Senate and the House.
This is an extremely important topic, and some have called it the centerpiece of Obama’s domestic agenda. The main issue that conservatives (and insurance companies) have criticized is the “public option,” that would create a government-run system that would compete with private insurers.
While critics have labeled the public option socialism, America already has a government-run program in place and operating — a few of them, actually. Specifically, Medicare, Medicaid and the Veterans Health Administration are all government-funded programs. And they all work. Are they perfect? No. But neither is the private healthcare system in place now.
Having a public option would allow small businesses, self-employed individuals and others to obtain healthcare without paying exorbitant fees. In this scenario, no one would be forced to leave his or her private insurer, and the millions of uninsured — not to mention underinsured — would have healthcare.
The debate essentially comes down to whether Americans think healthcare is a right and whether it’s in the best interest of the country. While many may debate the pros and cons of the first argument, no one can deny the latter.