News reports all week have talked about President Obama’s invitation to Democratic and Republican leadership to come to the White House on February 25 to discuss the Health Control Bill. Mind you, this bill has been in Congress for a year now, and no serious effort has been made to include Republicans, Independents, or the American Voice (AKA the Tea Party) in this discussion. However, if you are a union member…they will be happy to give you VIP seating. We have held local protests at our legislator’s offices, emailed and called, held rallies, marched on DC multiple times, met with our legislators, gathered petitions, and lobbied our State legislature…only to be ignored by the President and Congress. Furthermore, recent elections in Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts should have been huge neon lights to Washington DC.
So why the sudden change after ignoring milions of people voicing their displeasure over the last year? On one single day in September over a million patriots marched on Washington DC and the White House didn’t even acknowledge our presence. So why now? For two reasons: 1) ELECTIONS. In nine months Congressman will have to face the music. As campaign season approaches and the ever-unpopular health care bill is still outstanding, politicians are fearful of the consequences of supporting a bill that more than half of Americans and Virginians DO NOT WANT! 2) POLITICAL CAPITAL. President Obama has wasted so much of his own personal capital on health care control that he is now in a position of needing to do “whatever it takes” to get “something” passed. They perceive it as a nail in the coffin to end up with nothing after insisting that they new better what the American people want and need. To fail now would show him to be incompetent and lacking leadership.
So the question stands, given that we know the reason and motives for why the President NOW wants to meet after a year of begging by everyone, should Eric Cantor meet with President Obama on Feb 25? What do you think? If he does decide to meet with Obama, what message would you like Eric Cantor to take to the President. We strongly encourage you to email/call Cantor’s office and tell them what message you wanted delivered on your behalf should he choose to attend the meeting. But perhaps Eric Cantor should just tell the President…”too bad, too sad, too late!” What do you think?
