Obama: Government health care will be like, um, the post office
posted at 3:29 pm on August 11, 2009 by Allahpundit
Well, now I’m sold. If only he’d sweetened the pot and promised us it’d be like the DMV, I’d be ready to don an SEIU shirt and beat some protesters myself. As for the substance of his claim, that having government competition won’t affect private insurers, make sure to read Karl’s post debunking the many, many lies The One has told us about ObamaCare thus far. In fact, he told another one at this very same town hall, but I’ll make you go to Breitbart to watch the clip of that.
Evidently he faced a tough crowd, replete with 13-year-old girls empathizing about all the “mean signs” the Democrats have had to look at lately. Yes, really.
Blowback
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Get rid of medicare and Military health care . I hate government run Health care
liberal343 on August 11, 2009 at 3:31 PM
The Post Office, where there is always a place for slacking.
exdeadhead on August 11, 2009 at 3:32 PM
Speaking of the DMV, they just sent me a letter the other day saying they couldn’t issue my new license due to an error and I have to go back in to their office with said letter in hand.
If that’s what Obamacare has in store for me, I’ll pass.
Doughboy on August 11, 2009 at 3:33 PM
He’s a genuine Idiot-Savant, only minus the savant part.
bloggless on August 11, 2009 at 3:33 PM
Get rid of medicare and Military health care . I hate government run Health care
liberal343 on August 11, 2009 at 3:31 PM
Did Obozo share his crack pipe with you or are you just stupid?
txag92 on August 11, 2009 at 3:33 PM
How does one screw up a monopoly? Been to the Post Office lately?
jamie gumm on August 11, 2009 at 3:33 PM
post office… inefficient operation… scare folks that Sat deliver is going away… watch congress cave and subsidize BILLIONS each year. rinse and repeat.
gatorboy on August 11, 2009 at 3:33 PM
So, even at the busiest times of the year, 2 of the 6 lines will be open. Is that the analogy he really wants?
And that they’ve managed to foul up a service that everyone is forced to use, so they need to take on more?
Really?
And the USPS, that has signed contracts with FedEx for express services to cut costs. And still can’t turn a profit.
Really?
Not to mention it’s bloated pension system, which the postmaster blames for the USPS’s billions in debt – that congress won’t let them alter.
It really is the special olympics, isn’t it?
lorien1973 on August 11, 2009 at 3:33 PM
He does know he supposed to be making the case FOR a Government system right?
They better get the TOTUS fixed fast!
TheBigOldDog on August 11, 2009 at 3:34 PM
There’s a hole in Obama’s shoe where the bullet traveled through.
Chaz706 on August 11, 2009 at 3:34 PM
I’ve been saying this for years: anyone who advocates government-run healthcare should spend some time at the local VA hospital.
Vic on August 11, 2009 at 3:34 PM
The Obama DeathCare plan is cutting Medicare.
And the VA care is awful. My wife did her residency at a VA clinic, she was aghast of how poorly run it was.
Norwegian on August 11, 2009 at 3:34 PM
BUT TEHH SHTIMUULUSS!!1!zomg!
Abby Adams on August 11, 2009 at 3:35 PM
I am a Widow because of the lousy health care provided to my Husband by the V.A.
Conservalicious on August 11, 2009 at 3:35 PM
Obama: “We want health care to work just like the post office… except there won’t be any lines.”
Skywise on August 11, 2009 at 3:35 PM
Obama says:
So the post office is always having problems but government healthcare will work just fine, trust me. Um, thanks for making the case for us Mr. Obama.
Scrappy on August 11, 2009 at 3:35 PM
Oh, me too. Nothing like standing in line for 3 to 4 hours at the DMV only to be told that they lost the paperwork for my car’s registration and can’t help me for 3 to 5 business days. Yes, REALLY.
Now if they could guarantee that it’s run like Immigration Service where I was told that I was not allowed to go home for my Grandpa’s funeral because, as they told me, “tough sh*t”, I’d be totes sold on Government run health care.
the first thing you’ve ever said that made sense.
mjk on August 11, 2009 at 3:35 PM
Going Postal -> Going Ocare?
TheBigOldDog on August 11, 2009 at 3:35 PM
Off the teleprompter again?
AOSHQ also noted that Obama was talking about reducing the time a drug is on patent a little bit to make it to generic status faster.
I’ll bet that will go over big with Big Pharma. They may be asking Billy Joe Tauzin WTF he was doing with their money. He gets secret meetings and deals with Obama, which are eventually leaked to the press. Then this deal with Obama won’t necessarily be recognized by Granny Botox, who considers it a floor, not a ceiling on Pharma concessions. Then Obama goes after the special interest groups that are allegedly funding the Obamacare opponents.
Wethal on August 11, 2009 at 3:35 PM
This statement is going to KILL Obamacare. Done. Dead. Finished. See ya later.
Zetterson on August 11, 2009 at 3:36 PM
All the post office delivers are bills and unsolicited crap.
Sounds like the government, at its best.
OhEssYouCowboys on August 11, 2009 at 3:36 PM
I thought Bush sucked at improv. Dude that clip is just epic fail.
lorien1973 on August 11, 2009 at 3:36 PM
Oh Goody! More of your insightful and engaging commentary again today.
Scrappy on August 11, 2009 at 3:36 PM
Post OfficeHospital will be closed on Saturday.bbordwell on August 11, 2009 at 3:36 PM
Shouldn’t conservatives be happy that Obama is cutting slashing Medicare budget? What happened to the fiscal conservatives?
liberal343 on August 11, 2009 at 3:37 PM
you’ve had your butt kicked so many times with this line you’ve got a shoe tree in you azz.
Fighton03 on August 11, 2009 at 3:37 PM
For once we are on the same wavelength… at least for medicare (that lame gov’t wet dream that’s now broke)
I do think that our military officers should have access to health care, though…
Upstater85 on August 11, 2009 at 3:37 PM
I wonder what kind of loyalty tests those people had to take to get within shouting distance of Obama.
Yep, Obamacare will work like the US Postal Service. That is a real recommendation. He also complained of the media picking on him. What a wuss.
Terrye on August 11, 2009 at 3:37 PM
Will we get charged by the pound, and can I get express service?
ICBM on August 11, 2009 at 3:37 PM
But the mail services in the US are a much bigger part of the economy than the health care industry, so even if USPS is having problems, that doesn’t mean something small like health care would.
Abby Adams on August 11, 2009 at 3:37 PM
That was quite a campaign rally. Unfortunately, it was supposed to be a Presidential Townhall Meeting.
kingsjester on August 11, 2009 at 3:38 PM
Well, we did have a video one time saying that in a single payer environment, don’t get sick on weekends.
lorien1973 on August 11, 2009 at 3:38 PM
We need Obama-on-your-shoulder health care edition!
Ms. Ham?
artist on August 11, 2009 at 3:38 PM
Does Obama really want to compare this little debacle called Obamacare to the Postal Service?
Upstater85 on August 11, 2009 at 3:38 PM
Obama or 343?
Fighton03 on August 11, 2009 at 3:38 PM
The military receives health care because it fights for the country. And do you not remember all of the reports of how horrible the VA system that your side latched onto in order to slam the Bush Administration last year?
As for Medicare, it’s drowning the country in debt and doctors are dropping it because of its horrible compensation practices.
Again, sometimes you need to look beyond the MoveOn.org emails.
amerpundit on August 11, 2009 at 3:38 PM
Military Healthcare aside, I’d love to scrap Medicare. Only after the govt. gives back all the withholding taxes they’ve taken from me over the years.
Do you liberals even know how such programs are funded?
Aquateen Hungerforce on August 11, 2009 at 3:39 PM
So is he saying the government run health care will be like the Post Office…
d1carter on August 11, 2009 at 3:39 PM
Yea, I’m sold too. Down the river, that is.
scalleywag on August 11, 2009 at 3:39 PM
Every year the post office markets a new campaign to compete with Fedex and UPS. It’s attractive at first but there is never consistency or reliability so it ultimately fails. But yet, they pour more money into it, try again, and rack up another failed year.
It’s not too disturbing when you lose a package with the USPS, but now we’re talking losing a patient while they test run government-run healthcare. No thanks.
sherry on August 11, 2009 at 3:39 PM
“The government is not being subsidized by the taxpayers.” WTF?
farright on August 11, 2009 at 3:39 PM
I watched this poorly staged “Townhall” and it was truly pathetic. Even worse than his last presser. Prediction: support for ObamaDeathCare will drop another 10% by Friday.
Anyone else notice how Palin has once again gotten under his skin? He tried to convince Americans that he “would not kill Grandma”…LMAO Another bullseye by Palin.
When you are reduced to defend your turd of a plan by stating that you will not kill someones Grandmother, you have lost the battle. End of story.
Norwegian on August 11, 2009 at 3:39 PM
Express Service is for Senators that maintained their Cadillac plans…
Upstater85 on August 11, 2009 at 3:39 PM
Hahahaa!!
Damn, it must be really sad to be a liberal(343) and see your messiah up there fumbling about, trying to form a coherent sentence.
Love it.
RedbonePro on August 11, 2009 at 3:39 PM
UPS and Fedex do not compete with the post office. They are two different markets. The US Postal Service is trying to win over some UPS and Fedex customers with Priority and Express mail, but the lion’s share of the postal service business is first class mail and bulk mailings, which neither UPS nor Fedex offer.
txsurveyor on August 11, 2009 at 3:39 PM
ignore liberal, he is Allah playing with us.
BTW, what happens to all those medicare supplemental plans that people pay for to cover the things medicare does not? Do they continue.
As for VA, it was not that long ago that the left was talking about what an underfunded hell hole the average VA hospital was.
Terrye on August 11, 2009 at 3:40 PM
What happened to the great orator?
roux on August 11, 2009 at 3:40 PM
Also, if private healthcare could compete with a public option that was forced to fund itself through premiums and not through subsidies, what the heck is the point of the public option in the first place?
Aquateen Hungerforce on August 11, 2009 at 3:40 PM
Er, isn’t it illegal to compete with the USPS in first-class mail?
Great example, Mr. President.
DrSteve on August 11, 2009 at 3:40 PM
Well, this is what happens with no TOTUS… more truth.
Hunt035 on August 11, 2009 at 3:41 PM
Well well well. Here it is–the money quote.
Just like the US Post Office.
Lemme dissect that for a scant moment.
First, the post office has a task of a)receive and b)deliver the mail. This unidirectional handoff occurs 6 days a week and is regular and reliable, but it is in no way flexible. Can the postoffice only deliver my mail 3 days a week, how about just on Sundays? Can it do it at 0900 in the morning? What if I need it on Friday afternoon? Hence, the postoffice suffers woefully from lack of flexibility in provision of services and costs.
Second, the post office provides you with some great choices. Elvis, Marilyn, Bugs bunny and others. They’re all there–lick all you want. However, that’s the only choice you’re gonna get, take it or leave it.
Now, UPS and FEDEX are successful because they have classically provided services that the postoffice doesn’t provide–rapid, package delivery and overnight. The postoffice runs huge losses and no one cares. The main thing you get in the mail is junk…what use is it any longer?
Great point Mr. President, you did nothing to support your position by juxtaposing Obamacare with the Post Office. It’ll be another expensive drain that we need to probably get rid of because it has outlived its usefulness.
strong work there champ….
ted c on August 11, 2009 at 3:41 PM
The Post Office is established in the constitution. Where does the constitution mention health insurance?
bitsy on August 11, 2009 at 3:41 PM
Just sent to flag@whitehouse.gov:
“Dear Leader asked us peons to report fishy things being said about Obama Care. You might want to get the transcript from today’s staged “Town Hall”. It is full of fishy things, lies and bulls&%#@.”
Dingbat63 on August 11, 2009 at 3:41 PM
about that they were right though. But i suspect the problem is less with funding and more with bureaucratic mismanagement.
Fighton03 on August 11, 2009 at 3:41 PM
sherry:
The only reason the post office is still there, is because of daily delivery of mail. In terms of freight, they could never compete with FedEx or UPS.
Terrye on August 11, 2009 at 3:41 PM
This idiot’s statements are self-defeating. It’s no wonder only brain damaged liberals believe anything he says. They are absurd on their face.
Aquateen Hungerforce on August 11, 2009 at 3:42 PM
Now the new “one coffin fits all”. Does it fit in the coffin? Yeah, same price!
Skywise on August 11, 2009 at 3:42 PM
OT: Who is the plant that yells: “We love you” to Dear Leader at the beginning of these “townhalls”?
d1carter on August 11, 2009 at 3:42 PM
TOTUS is on summer vacation…
RedbonePro on August 11, 2009 at 3:42 PM
“Mr. President sir, your most gracious eminence, can you explain why exactly your health care plan will be so gosh darned enchanting to the American people?”
Bishop on August 11, 2009 at 3:42 PM
Actually I’d be HAPPY in they ran it like my DMV in Florida.
The people are courteous,kind and fast!
katy the mean old lady on August 11, 2009 at 3:42 PM
Here’s the better story.
Oh lordy. Thank ya for allowing dissent to be heard.
lorien1973 on August 11, 2009 at 3:42 PM
Like the post office yes…….But in Obamacare, the government employees will kill the patrons instead of each other.
csdeven on August 11, 2009 at 3:43 PM
So he uses a powerful argument anti-government takeover peeps use to illustrate – in terms people can relate to – what it will be like under this bureaucratic, money-hole nightmare as an argument for it?
ROVE, YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD.
Good Lt on August 11, 2009 at 3:43 PM
Fighton03:
My father died in a VA hospital. Most of the people who took care of him were very nice.
It is interesting to me that the left will make an issue of something like Walter Reed etc, and then hold out the VA as an example of how wonderful government health care can be.
Terrye on August 11, 2009 at 3:43 PM
He passed away on June 5, 2004.
Fighton03 on August 11, 2009 at 3:44 PM
OK, to be fair to the left… maybe in states like Florida with large swaths of elderly citizens, Obamacare could be run like the Florida DMV so at least for some of the old people, they wouldn’t have to wait in line too long ;)
Upstater85 on August 11, 2009 at 3:44 PM
Not Ready for Prime Time President.
Wethal on August 11, 2009 at 3:44 PM
The price of stamps goes up a couple of times a year, but ObamaCare will control costs!
JammieWearingFool on August 11, 2009 at 3:45 PM
Ruh roh.
the_nile on August 11, 2009 at 3:45 PM
I did hear part of Rush today and he actually played the tapes of Obama saying he supported single payer right after he played the tape of Obama yammering on about he had never supported single payer.
Don’t these politicians realize that this is the age of youtube?
Terrye on August 11, 2009 at 3:45 PM
Chris Matthews?
Upstater85 on August 11, 2009 at 3:45 PM
Back stage at the White House:
“Barack, we totally packed the audience today. We gave them little cards with only the questions we had practiced with you. We got most of the black people away from the back drop. We had you wear your American flag pin, even though we know it makes you sick. We got that cute little kid to read the ‘mean signs’ script. And you bring up the Post Office as a model of efficiency?! The goddamn Post Office?! Okay, we’re going to need a lot more rehearsal before the next candid town hall meeting. Tell Michelle you’ll be late tonight. She’s going to have to go to the ‘Doesn’t America Suck?’ dinner alone.”
Rational Thought on August 11, 2009 at 3:45 PM
I’m in Chicago and I have to agree with you. I’m always pleasantly surprised at how efficient they are.
sherry on August 11, 2009 at 3:46 PM
My DMV is ok only when I get one of the young women to help me, the older ladies are bitter and caustic. The place also has a guy whose only duty seems to be pulling a ticket from the number machine and handing it to me, as if I couldn’t possibly manage such a difficult task myself.
Bishop on August 11, 2009 at 3:46 PM
Whatever Soros is paying you, it’s 80% too much.
angryed on August 11, 2009 at 3:46 PM
…Oh, he might just be able to control costs…
…We just don’t want to know how…
Upstater85 on August 11, 2009 at 3:46 PM
LMAO! “Going Postal” will now be called “Going Medical”
Think of your new healthcare providers under ObamaCare as Newman in Seinfeld. Very encouraging indeed.
Norwegian on August 11, 2009 at 3:46 PM
obladioblada on August 11, 2009 at 3:47 PM
Upstate NY… plan ahead.
Southern IN… so, so. Nice, but not super quick, though quicker than NY.
Upstater85 on August 11, 2009 at 3:47 PM
That’s funny as hell. Thanks for the laugh.
txsurveyor on August 11, 2009 at 3:47 PM
Now, healthcare on the other hand is like this.
First, you get sick and injured invariably on Friday night or Sunday afternoon–just at the wrong times.
Second, your problem may be similar to the guy next to you, but a 40 cent postage stamp won’t work for you and it might work for him.
Third, there are regional differences and cultural values that medical care has to account for but the mail doesn’t–the mail is the mail but people who live near the ocean, go fishing and suffer maritime injuries or dive injuries that are different than those in other states. Also, states like Florida have higher concentrations of elderly, hence consume different medical procedures at different rates than in other areas of the country. However, their mail issues are the same as everyones. Their mailbox is just as big as the young guy in South Dakota. Same same. Those regional medical differences have to be accounted for and a big government program cannot appreciate nor account for these regional differences that only get worse as you taper down to each local level. However, the mail is the mail.
Great point Mr. President–juxtapose your Obamacare plan with a failing government plan that is far simpler. How can a reasonable person even consider allowing this to go forward?
you can’t deliver the mail, you can’t deliver the speech, and you can’t deliver this bill. It just ain’t happening there champ.
ted c on August 11, 2009 at 3:47 PM
Some one hack the teleprompter?
This is like an ‘I love scotch’ moment from Ron Burgundy.
Chaz706 on August 11, 2009 at 3:47 PM
So you may get shot up waiting in the emergency room when some goes postal.
WashJeff on August 11, 2009 at 3:47 PM
The reason UPS and FedEx are doing so well is because the USPS is inefficient, difficult to use and keeps raising its rages.
Is President Obama really admitting that that’s what his healthcare plan will be like?
29Victor on August 11, 2009 at 3:48 PM
Obama is the Postal Racial President.
ICBM on August 11, 2009 at 3:48 PM
I keep thinking the same thing.
Upstater85 on August 11, 2009 at 3:48 PM
Callers into Boston’s Howie Carr show (WRKO, streaming now on Net if you want to listen) orivudubg on the ground reports from the “event.”
The paid supporters in NH even had an ice sculpture along with their professionally printed signs. Obama’s paid army was met by Today’s minutemen with their homemade signs.
TheBigOldDog on August 11, 2009 at 3:48 PM
I’m sorry to hear that. My dad suffered some nerve damage to his arm from an accident in the 70′s and my business partners father passed away recently from myloma. Both were handled by the VA (one was on duty, the other a retiree).
To work in that atmosphere (a VA hospital) you have to have a good heart. It seems like the system runs them rather than the other way around
Fighton03 on August 11, 2009 at 3:48 PM
Maybe that is how Obama intends to cut costs.
farright on August 11, 2009 at 3:48 PM
lol
the_nile on August 11, 2009 at 3:49 PM
“rages” = “rates”
but “rages” kinda fits too
29Victor on August 11, 2009 at 3:49 PM
Best idea you’ve probably ever had. Don’t forget Medicaid, though.
Dusty on August 11, 2009 at 3:49 PM
You’re luucky.
I lost my license this year. Tried getting a new one online, told I needed to go in to an office. Went to an office on a Tuesday afternoon, thinking, can’t be too busy. I was right it was not busy at all. Still took 1:45 to get a REPLACEMENT license. They didn’t even have to take my picture. They just reprinted a copy, I paid $5 and off I went. And yet it still took close to 2 hours of my day.
angryed on August 11, 2009 at 3:49 PM
Ed and Allah-
this has got to be one of the OOTD this week, fer sure
PLEASE!
cmsinaz on August 11, 2009 at 3:49 PM
methinks liberal123 answered a craigslist ad for paid astroturfing. He sucks at it, but that doesn’t matter, he is there simply to make noise and impugn.
Pathetic.
daesleeper on August 11, 2009 at 3:49 PM
See, you go to the post office and buy Obama stamps, then trade them in for health care.
BigD on August 11, 2009 at 3:49 PM
Obama’s street gang colors are Purple (SEIU) and Red (ACORN) keeps your video cameras trained on them when attending events.
TheBigOldDog on August 11, 2009 at 3:50 PM
come to Kalifornia…..the last time I was there though at least the lady smiled and could laugh.
Fighton03 on August 11, 2009 at 3:50 PM
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