I only caught the last hour and a half of it, and I was afraid that I missed the good part. I did not. I loved the testimony of one congressman, I  think his last name is Barasso, who was an orthopedic surgeon before going into politics. He said that people will be better off with only catastrophic coverage, because this way they would allocate their resources wisely. You know, like when your knee hurts just a little bit you will think twice before going to a doctor. And then when things get really bad that’s when you get coverage!

Obama could not hide his disgust with this guy when he asked him an obvious question: Would he support this kind of coverage for the members of Congress? Barasso said yes, what else was he gonna say? I at least give him credit for being consistent. Obama followed up with another question: What about if you only make $40,000? No answer to that one. He probably didn’t think about that. It’s hard for Republicans to fathom that there are people making less than $250K a year.

During the closing comments Obama was clear enough to send a message that he will do what needs to be done if met with continuous Republican obstructionism – reconciliation. That is passing the bill with 51 votes. Which is what needed to be done a long time ago.

Dear Lord! Give him balls to do it!