Political Student

Written by Dave Chase

Here is an editorial I wrote for The Point News. Enjoy!

After a summer of brutal town halls, lunatic TV/Radio hosts and angry protesters, it’s hard to say that President Obama’s health care reform effort is where he, or the millions of Americans supporting him, hoped it would be. With three bills, two from the Senate and one from the House, floating around, it looks like the final bill will bring little more than further tweaks to the system, not the broad and comprehensive reform that is desired.

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Written by Dave Chase

Tonight, President Obama held a town hall to answer some of the question that people submitted through the White House website over the past few days. Now, as I shared yesterday, there certainly were some rather silly and dumb questions but the President only answered the top rated ones.

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Written by Dave Chase

President Obama has set up a section on his website where people can ask questions to the President and vote on the questions that he will answer tomorrow night.

I thought I would share a few of my favorite ones. I think these are truly examples of the serious problems this country faces and they certainly further my desire for education reform.

“Considering how much money, effort, and time has been wasted so far, will you provide your birth certificate and shut up the birthers once and for all?”

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Written by Dave Chase

My beloved Senator, Ted Kennedy, made a surprise visit to Obama’s summit on health care. Kennedy has spent the last few months at his home on Cape Cod (CC Represent!) after he was diagnosed with brain cancer last Spring. He wasn’t even well enough to make it to DC for the incredibly close and vital vote on the stimulus package.

But health care has been Ted’s pet project since he was elected to the Senate back in the day. “Now is the time for action” was Kennedy’s message at the summit.

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Written by Dave Chase

Rep Waters, D-Calif., Rep King, R-N.Y., Sen Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen Graham, R-S.C. debate the stimulus on

While watching the Sunday morning shows this morning, I honestly could not believe what I was seeing when when Republican Senator Lindsay Graham and Republican Representative Peter Kin said that Geinther should not take the option of nationalizing the entire banking system off the table. More from the Huffington Post.

What’s more is Senator Chuck Schumer (D) said that was a terrible idea and that the government cannot handle a task like that.

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Written by Dave Chase

Apparently the image that inspired a Presidential campaign and hope in a nation has also inspired the legal department to contact the creator and demand compensation and credit.

It turns out that the artist, Shepard Fairey, found a photo taken by an AP photographer by searching for Obama on Google Image and then adapting the photo into the image to the right (hopefully AP won’t sue me for using it!).

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Written by Dave Chase

Former Senator Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination as Secretary of Health and Human Services earlier today. The question on my mind is what will this do to Obama’s bold plans for providing universal health care.

Daschle’s long time in the Senate, including 10 years as Senate Majority Leader, gave him a unique perspective to help guide any health care legislation through the process. You cannot replace the experience of working on the Hill with any other kind of experience.

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Written by Dave Chase

Photo from Current.com

It looks like Obama will select Judd Gregg as his commerce secretary. Gregg is a republican senator from New Hampshire. Gregg said that he would only accept the position if the Governor of New Hampshire (Democrat, John Lynch) appoints a Republican to finish out his term in the Senate.

This comes just after a rather humiliating vote on the House floor for Obama’s stimulus package. Who knew winning could hurt so much! Obama’s package passed 244 to 188 but the kicker is that not a single Republican voted for the bill. Not a single one. So much for a bipartisan bill.

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Written by Dave Chase

My mom, owner of The Casual Gourmet a catering company on Cape Cod, called me yesterday just to check in. We talked about grades, my new toy (a Canon 40d) and finally the economy. As a small business owner, she is understandably worried about the state of our economy. With 7.2% of the country unemployed and no end of our problems in sight, few are going to be hurt more then the small business owners.

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Written by Dave Chase

Still brings tears to my eyes. Even more meaningful now that we really have done it!

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