Two-faced Politicking

Today, President Obama will be giving a speech before a joint session of Congress on health care reform. There seems to be adamance on his end that health care reform must happen sooner than later. I don't disagree.

Unfortunately, it seems only one proposed solution is being debated: HR 3200. This, despite the message coming from President Obama and Speaker Pelosi, "If you have a better idea, put it on the table."

The funny thing is there are other, potentially better ideas. Like this one, or this one, or this one.

What's more, despite the rhetoric about welcoming alternative suggestions with open arms, The Hill magazine reported that the president "has not invited House GOP leaders to the White House for meetings on healthcare reform since the end of April."

Earlier this year, GOP leaders sent a letter to the president in May stating that they would like to work with the administration to find "common ground" on healthcare reform.

But the administration responded with a tersely worded letter indicating that they had healthcare reform under control.

This all seems a bit two-faced to me.

It's disappointing that after promising a new political era during the 2006 and 2008 campaigns, the current leaders in Congress and the White House really haven't changed the partisanship and attitudes in Washington much.