A Well Earned Thank You

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Dick Meyer: Mr. President, On Behalf Of An Ungrateful Nation, Thank You

I’ve never written a column like this. Readers rarely believe it, but I am not on any political team. Generosity toward the high and mighty isn’t among my few virtues. But this needs to be said: Americans are lucky to have Barack Obama as president and we should wake up and appreciate it while we can. President Obama will go down in history as an extraordinary president, probably a great one. He will have done this in era that doesn’t aggrandize leaders and presidents, but shrinks them. All presidents have had profound opposition, vicious enemies and colossal failures. A few were beloved and others deeply respected in their day, but none in the modern era and certainly not Obama.

One can hate Democrats, disagree with Obama on big issues, dislike his style or be disappointed the excitement of his election didn’t last. But his accomplishments, ambitious goals, dignity and honesty under tough circumstances demand admiration and appreciation. 1. The Iran deal: Time will reveal if the deal worked, not today’s talking/tweeting heads. What cannot be in dispute is this was a momentous initiative, a gutsy political risk, a diplomatic success and, potentially, a giant step in defusing a long-ticking time bomb. 2. Obamacare: In the midst of the worst economy since the Great Depression, Obama delivered one of the most important domestic programs since the New Deal. Only LBJ’s Great Society laws compare. Obamacare has survived two challenges in the Supreme Court and constant, kabuki-style congressional votes to repeal. It’s now off life support. Key goals are being met. It will evolve and improve. One day it will be taken for granted and people will say, “Keep the government out of my Obamacare.”

More here

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Mr. President, on behalf of an ungrateful nation, @DickMeyerDC says thank you: newsnet5.com/decodedc/mr-pr… @DecodeDC http://t.co/zEsrVR91DK

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Scripps National (@ScrippsNational) July 16, 2015

Obamacare, fixing the financial crisis and now the Iran deal. Reasons why Obama may go down as an extraordinary pres bit.ly/1gDOc33

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  (@DecodeDC) July 17, 2015

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#FF @DickMeyerDC who wrote @DecodeDC's first viral piece: Mr. President, on behalf of an ungrateful nation, thank you bit.ly/1gDOc3

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Miranda Green (@Mirandacgreen) July 17, 2015

This opinion piece from our Scripps Washington DC bureau @DecodeDC is getting a lot of attention online today bit.ly/1CLHIJa

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7NEWS Denver Channel (@DenverChannel) July 17, 2015

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@DickMeyerDC I'm the left's equivalent of #tcot minus the hatred and those awful tri-cornored hats. Nice piece, opened my eyes. Thanks.

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Dânny Narko (@dannyboi965) July 17, 2015

@DickMeyerDC A brilliant piece by Dick Meyer: "Mr. President, on behalf of an ungrateful nation, thank you"

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Stuart Hotchkiss (@HSHotchkiss) July 17, 2015

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Mr. President, on behalf of an ungrateful nation, @DickMeyerDC says thank you: bit.ly/1gDOc33

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  (@DecodeDC) July 16, 2015

@DecodeDC @DickMeyerDC Amen! Been saying that for years.

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David Bailey (@Computer_blues) July 16, 2015

“I’m One Grateful Old Lady”

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A Word from ’57 and Female’ (comment here)

I am going to be 64 years old in a few months and being self-employed for the last 33 years I have never had one of my medications covered by insurance. Never. Just to stay minimally healthy, my asthma, blood pressure meds and a few others are around $600/month.

We had awful insurance that never covered my asthma until there was no insurance at all for the last decade. I lived in constant fear.

I chose a Gold plan – for my last year and half until Medicare I wanted maximum flexibility and a low deductible: $500 and $3,500 out-of-pocket cap with a large network. I chose a co-op plan. These plans, with no profit incentive, were supposed to be a bridge to something akin to a public option. In the 2012 budget fight, the Republicans won the elimination of these plans from ACA but anyone who had a grant before then was grandfathered in. IL was able to establish an insurance plan/company that will run on overhead similar to Medicare and we all ‘own’ the company.

My premium, after some subsidy, is $558/month. Your age can still be a factor in premium cost, but with a cap. I do have co-pays on my medications – it will be about $140/month. But I’m still only out a little more for truly comprehensive health care than what I was paying retail for my meds before ACA.

To walk up to the CVS Pharmacy counter and give them my card was overwhelming. My $320 asthma med: $70 co-pay. My $160 nasal spray: $30. And so on.

I need to get my first mammogram. I need to go to the gynecologist for the first time in 10 years. When I was sick last week and even the meds from the doctor weren’t working, I knew if – God forbid – I needed the ER because I couldn’t breathe, I could go. I have insurance. I will not be denied, as I was in 1983 because ‘no one develops asthma as an adult’ sayeth BCBS and they wouldn’t pay for my hospital stay.

I’m one grateful old lady.

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‘An Obligation to be Grateful’

Charles Pierce: These are some things the president of the United States cannot say but that I can say about him. Because he is a black man, he has an obligation to be grateful to the white people who voted him into office. Because he is a black man, he has an obligation not to use the full powers of his office in such a way as to alienate any of the white people who so graciously voted him into office. Because he is a black man, he has an obligation not to use the full advantages of his office in his effort to get those white people to reelect him as their president for another four years. Because those white people voted him into office, his primary job as president is to make sure his entire presidency is a demonstration of how far we’ve come as a nation on race, and that means he is not allowed to do anything or say anything that the white people who elected him can perceive to be divisive, because his primary function is to make them feel good about themselves. In theory, at least, all presidents are servants of the people who elected them. In the case of Barack Obama, it has seemed from the start that the idea as applied to him was more than mere metaphor. He is the first president in my lifetime whom the country felt obligated to remind that he know his place.

The rules of the office changed on him just about the second that his hand came off the Bible in January 2009. Every benefit of every doubt that ever was given to every president, good or bad, was not given to him…..

…. It has been hard not to notice that he is the first president in my lifetime who is treated as though he has been given permission by the country to lead it, a permission that can be rescinded at any time, for whatever reason, fair or foul.

…. The event of him is still remarkable. The idea that America elected a black man to be its president forty years after it declined to allow Martin Luther King Jr. to stand on a balcony without getting shot still maintains its power to awe and inspire. Of course, he can’t make full use of that, either, because as we know by virtue of his very election, race is no longer an issue in this country. But the rest of us can make of it what we will. Even in this, his second cautious, no-drama campaign, there remains a sense that you could get in on the making of history again. It’s time for Barack Obama to be as bold as he wants the rest of the country to be. If the path is narrow, you might as well run as walk.

Full post here

Thanks Japa

grateful

President Obama pauses as he speaks at a DNC fundraiser at the Studio Museum in Harlem, March 29

“This is also a challenging time. I could not do what I do…if I didn’t know that I have a lot of people rooting for me, a lot of people supporting me. I want each of you to know that I’m very, very grateful for your friendship.”

i’m grateful

Spotted by The Only Adult In The Room, inspired by The Only Adult In The Room

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Blackwaterdog’s latest post:

I’m Grateful