Obama Slams Health-Care Reform Critics
Source: CBC News
Posted: 08/12/09 8:57AM
Filed Under: World
U.S. President Barack Obama waded into the public war of words over his administration's proposed health-care reforms Tuesday, saying the plan's opponents are deliberately trying to "scare the heck" out of people.
During a town hall-style appearance before 1,800 people in New Hampshire, Obama rejected the "wild misrepresentations" of his plan by special interests aiming to block legislation in Congress by creating "boogeymen out there that just aren't real."
Behind the Scenes With the President
POTUS is an often used White House acronym that stands for "President of the United States." We just added the "H" in the title of this photo gallery to make a play on the acronym -- to indicate that this was a photo gallery that focused on events that revolved around Barack Obama's presidency. This photo gallery will be updated several times a week, as photos from behind the scenes of the presidency are released on the official White House photo feed on Flickr.com.
President Barack Obama ducks his head to get through an entranceway on a tour of the Pyramids and Sphinx in Egypt, June 4, 2009. At center-right is the hieroglyphic that the President comment on saying it looked like him. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
President Barack Obama jokingly shows off the hat he was given during his tour of the Pyramids and Sphinx in Egypt on June 4, 2009.
Official White House photo by Pete Souza
President Barack Obama sits on the steps of the U.S. Ambassador's residence in Paris before returning to Washington, June 7, 2009.
Official White House photo by Pete Souza
President Barack Obama and First Lady Micelle Obama walk towards Marine One as they leave Normandy for Paris on June 6, 2009. Seeing them off are National Security Advisor James Jones, Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel, and Senior Advisors Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod.
Official White House photo by Pete Souza
President Barack Obama marks the 65th anniversary of the D-Day invasion with veterans Clyde Combs and Ben Franklin as well as French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and England's Prince Charles on June 6, 2009
Official White House photo by Pete Souza
President Barack Obama attends an expanded bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at Dresden Castle, June 5, 2009.
Official White House photo by Pete Souza
President Barack Obama arrives at Ramstein Airbase in Germany, June 5, 2009.
Official White House photo by Pete Souza
President Barack Obama and White House staffers aboard Air Force One to Paris look at Reggie Love's photos of Egypt on June 5, 2009
Official White House photo by Pete Souza
President Barack Obama waves goodbye from the steps of Air Force One as he departs King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on his way to Cairo, Egypt, June 4, 2009.
Official White House photo by Pete Souza
President Barack Obama speaks at Cairo University in Cairo, Thursday, June 4, 2009. In his speech, President Obama called for a 'new beginning between the United States and Muslims', declaring that 'this cycle of suspicion and discord must end'.
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
He also ridiculed stories swirling around the health-care town hall events, such as rumours the government would set up "death panels" that would decide who lives and who dies, or that the White House was creating an "enemies list" using email addresses of people who oppose reform.
Raucous and sometimes violent clashes have some Democrats accusing Republicans and health industry lobbyists of using fear and lies to try to kill the White House plan.
Opponents of Obama's plan, however, insist the country can't afford to provide health care to the 47 million Americans currently living without it.
Obama said he welcomed a "vigorous" debate over the plan, but encouraged people to talk "with each other and not over each other."
"Where we do disagree, let's disagree over things that are real, not these wild misrepresentations that bear no resemblance to anything that's actually been proposed," Obama said to applause.
The president, who appeared to pick people at random from the crowd to ask questions, ticked off his list of all that health-care reform won't do, saying it won't dictate which doctors a patient can see or cut benefits to seniors already on government-run medicare.
Raucous clashes
Obama insisted democracy will determine whether reform to the health-care system happens. He also reiterated his determination that the plan — with a projected cost of $1 trillion over 10 years — be paid for without adding to the soaring U.S. deficit.
He added the real danger lies in failing to address the rising cost of health care that is contributing to the deficit already.
The Day in Photos
Chippendales promote their Edinburgh Fringe show on top of Calton hill on August 6, 2009 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The act returns to the UK for the first time in over 5 years with their show Ultimate Girls Night Out at the Gilded Balloon.
Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Mat Rebeaud competes in the Moto X Freestyle Final during X Games 15 at the Home Depot Center on August 1, 2009 in Carson, California.
Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images
A Santa poses prior to abseiling down the front of Sydney's Four Season's Hotel to launch the Sydney Santa Fun Run on August 5, 2009 in Sydney, Australia. The children's charity Variety are hosting the event on November 29 for which they hope to encourage 5000 Sydney-siders to wear a Santa suit and raise funds for disadvantaged children.
Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images
Japan's robotics venture Cyberdyne employee wearing the robot-suit "HAL" (Hybrid Assistive Limb) walk on a street in Tokyo for the demonstration on August 3, 2009. Tsukuba University professor Yoshiyuki Sankai and Cyberdyne developed the mass production model of the robot suit which enables it to forsee user's motion and to assist disorder persons or aged people.
YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP/Getty Images
TOKYO - AUGUST 04: A baby wallaby sits in a zoo attendant's lap at Edogawa Natural Zoo on August 4, 2009 in Tokyo, Japan. The staff of the zoo have raised the young wallaby after her mother neglected her.
Photo by Junko Kimura/Getty Images
In this handout image provided by Pucchin Dog's, "Love-Kun", a 3-day old chihuahua puppy with heart-shaped markings is presented with his elder brother "Heat-Kun" to the media at Pucchin Dog's on August 6, 2009 in Odate, Akita prefecture, Japan. The new puppy is the brother of 2-year old chihuahua "Heart-Kun" who was also born with a perfect heart-shaped marking on his back from the same parents.
Photo by Pucchin Dog's via Getty Images
In this Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009 photo, miners carry buckets of sulphur at the crater of Ijen volcano in Bayuwangi, East Java, Indonesia. After braving poisonous gases and carrying heavy loads for several kilometers to the collecting station, miners could earn up to Rp. 50,000 a day (US $5.00).
AP Photo/Irwin Fedriansyah
Maria Sharapova, of Russia, reacts after winning a point against Victoria Azarenka, of Belarus, at the LA Women's Tennis Championships at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009.
AP Photo/Lori Shepler
Security guards hired by the management of Ssangyong Motor Co. were hit by fire bombs hurled by striking workers at the automaker's factory in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009. Police commandos descending from a helicopter-borne shipping container stormed a South Korean auto plant Wednesday, seizing all but one facility in the compound where hundreds of workers have held out for months in a battle over a company survival plan.
AP Photo/Yonhap, Lim Hun-jung
Residents look at photos on a mobile phone of the tornado that swept Mont-Laurier, Que., Tuesday, as they stand next to a destroyed friend's house.
Paul Chiasson / THE CANADIAN PRESS
"What is truly scary, what is truly risky, is to do nothing," he said.
Unlike Obama's town hall event, Democratic senators Arlen Specter and Claire McCaskill faced hostile crowds at similar meetings in their home states of Pennsylvania and Missouri.
At the Pennsylvania forum, one woman, nearly shaking in anger, stood directly in front of Specter and said the reform bill "is about the systematic dismantling of our country."
The U.S. Congress has delayed plans to vote on the proposed health-care reform legislation until after the August break.
With files from Curt Petrovich and The Associated Press
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