I watched part of the president's Thurs., Aug. 20 health care reform forum speech on C-SPAN earlier today. Listen, folks, things are getting better. Furthermore, the public option is a good thing. And, no, hard-earned taxpayer dollars will not be used to fund abortions. As President Obama pointed out to a diverse audience of concerned citizens, when FDR and JFK tried to propose progressive legislation, they were labelled as "socialist" as well. Personally, I believe the media has portrayed the division of America as being worse than it actually is. There are many on both sides of the aisle in Congress who promote bi-partisan solutions to the problems we are facing. One of these is DNC Chairman Tim Kaine, the governor of Virginia and a moderate-to-conservative Democrat, whom I believe is a unifying force in American politics. Most importantly, the president reminded the audience that real people are the true force for positive social change and that this change is definitely happening right now because of real people. According to the commander-in-chief, we have more power and credibility than big-shot media outlets.
That brings me to my second point: President Obama jokingly referenced the events of one year ago this week. A year ago, both parties were gearing up for their national conventions. In addition, each presidential candidate chose a running mate. The president and the audience erupted in laughter-- as did I-- when Obama mentioned the selection of Sen. McCain's running mate. (Quite honestly, I think I laughed harder at that moment than I probably have in a year.) Obama also remarked how there's just something about the transition from August to September that gets people worked up. (I couldn't resist applauding that remark; the August-to-September transition is always an edgy time for me for some strange reason.) Anyway, joking aside, we still have a long way to go, but progress has been made in the past year.
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