President Obama has just signed the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law in Denver, CO, saying:
Today does not mark the end of our economic troubles. Nor does it constitute all of what we must do to turn our economy around. But it does mark the beginning of the end – the beginning of what we need to do to create jobs for Americans scrambling in the wake of layoffs; to provide relief for families worried they won't be able to pay next month's bills; and to set our economy on a firmer foundation, paving the way to long-term growth and prosperity.
It's actually pretty amazing when you think about it. Obama has been President for less than a month, and he's already passed one of the largest economic recovery bills in history.
Though, as we've seen, this didn't happen without opposition. Republicans in the House stood united against this country's economic recovery, and all but a few Republicans in the Senate chose that path to nowhere as well. And, as I've noted, health care provisions in the economic recovery package were singled out by the right, both because it's an easy issue to fire up the conservative base and because it is laying the groundwork for opposing larger health care reform efforts. As former Governor Howard Dean wrote today:
This claptrap is really about the far right laying the ground work for a far greater and more sustained attack on the Democrats' attempt to fix our health care system. As we move forward with the American people to finally fulfill the promise of Harry Truman, who over sixty years ago suggested that every American ought to have a reasonable health care plan, we will rely on the voters to remind the right wing that change is what we promised, and change is what we will deliver.
Now, those leading the charge against health care aren't what you would call credible intellectuals. As Think Progress noted, Betsy McCaughey (who kicked off the controversy with an editorial in Bloomberg) received thousands in stock options from a medical device maker one week before penning her lies. And she's received over $67,000 from biotechnology firms over the years as well. She's hardly what you would call an honest player.
Keith Olbermann has called her out as an industry shill, to which Betsy responded challenging Keith to a debate. Keith responded in kind:
Like any other paid spokesperson trying to shill a product, she's welcome to buy commercial time on MSNBC (and I'll even make a call to the guys in advertising to see if they can find her a spot during a break in Countdown).
That's how it's done!
As we turn to health care next (And rest assured, it's next. As Obama and his advisers have said, there is no fixing the economy without fixing health care.), we'll have to be vigilant about these right wing smears, and realize that even though we will face strong opposition, we can prevail as we have with the economic recovery legislation. Hey, maybe next time around we'll even get through the process without as many concessions.