Quote:
Originally Posted by Rockin' Flames
Being a person that lives in the US now I'd have to say that the biggest impact on his ratings right now is the reform of health care (aka Obamacare). The Democrats have enough votes in Congress and in the Senate to pass the health care bill, so I'm afraid you can't place the blame of it not passing at the feet of the Republicans. The Republicans are working to make sure that everyone is aware of what is in the bill but simply put don't have enough votes to stop it.
The majority of voters do not like the result of the health care bills floating around which has given some Democrats cold feet which has slowed the bill (thank goodness). The Democrats have done everything behind closed doors and is extremely partisan (despite Obamas promises all negotiations will be on C-SPAN). The blame for the healthcare mess rests solely with the Obama and the Democrats.
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Now correct me if I'm wrong in this as I'm a relatively young canuckistani that's only recently starting to get into American politics. Its pretty interesting but some of the rules are a bit confusing.
The senate needs 3/5th majority to break filibuster which if I understand things correctly means that the republicans could hold up 'debate' of the bill indefinately. At the start of the healthcare debate proceedings, the Democrats did not have their 60 seats required to force the bill to a vote and therefore, in reality, weren't able to make it happen. This started some negotiations and concessions. Despite giving the republicans basically everything they asked for the bill could still not reach a vote.
Now the Democrats have their 3/5ths majority (?) but the bill is so managled and is a shell of its former self because of the effort to appease the Republicans that some on the further left parts of the Democratic party are no longer satisfied.
The not being as open with the public part and c-span issue and such aside, is that a relatively accurate description of what has gone on? Again, its a complicated system that I've only recently really started to get into and who knows about the impartiality of the news sources, etc.