Today, President Obama held a Health Care Summit for Congressional Republican and Democratic leaders with the goal of providing a venue for discussion about how best to move forward with the debate on health care reform.
While there are several points of agreement between the parties, such as the threat rising health care costs have on the nation’s economic security, the conversation was at times very contentious.
The televised event, which lasted over seven hours, was much anticipated in the past couple weeks. It was held on what for many
LSA Sophomore Arin Heinz said that she watched the event for about an hour. She expressed that she was “satisfied overall that the summit was being held” but felt that “in terms of progress being made—both sides seem more content to attack each other than to actually attack the problem and accomplish the goal of reforming health care.”
Heinz says that she hopes “to see a more comprehensive, all inclusive, less expensive health care” but feels “apprehensive as to a bi-partisan solution occurring anytime soon.”
President Obama concluded the long day saying, “I don't think we're going to have another one of these." He asserted that he is opposed to starting over with a clean slate but also said that bridging the gap between the parties on this issue is unlikely. He expressed the view that baby steps do not get you where you are trying to go and suggested that Democrats will move forward regardless, agreement or no agreement, and will possibly hold a reconciliation election, where just 51 votes would be required to pass legislation,
Some students mentioned that they had heard snippets of the summit on the radio, but as they were in class for most of the day, following along was difficult.
Sophomore Kristopher Gutowski, an Economics and Psychology major was unable to listen or watch the discussion live but says he recieved “tweet updates and read some follow up.”
Gutowski noted that one exchange between President Obama and Senator John McCain (R-Ariz) stuck out as a “shining example of partisanship and post-election tension.” He went on to say that he believes “bi-partisanship will be hard to come by” but hopes to see at least enough cooperation to pass some sort of reform.
Several other students also expressed that they were hoping to see some attempts at compromise from both sides but were discouraged by what they had heard. The majority of the speaking was done by Democrats, but GOP opinions were still expressed, generally in strong opposition.
U-M professor and former Michigan Congresswoman Lynn Rivers (D-MI), while refusing to answer any specific questions mentioned that she knew very little about what was going on at the summit. As of 4pm, she had not watched any of the day’s events.
Other students, with imminent start of spring break, had better things to do or were just disinterested. Junior Stephanie Davis, a Political Science major said, “I've heard about it, but I haven't watched it.”
Those who did tune in to listen to the debate did not hear any particularly striking new ideas, but rather were once again reminded of political struggle that lies ahead.
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