Obama's Weekly Address: Giving Government Back to the American People

As the President beats back lobbyists seeking to weaken Wall Street Reform, he talks about an even broader threat that would vastly expand the influence of massive industries and their lobbyists in Washington. A recent Supreme Court decision opened the floodgates for corporations, including foreign corporations, to spend endless money on political ads that would give them even more power at the expense of American families – the President pledges to fight for reforms to stem that influence.

8 - Health Care Reform

We are at a point in the healthcare reform debate where a vote needs to be taken by congress. Let's have a vote and live with the results. Here are some reasons that the issue needs to be dealt with now:

8 -- that's the number of people every minute who are denied coverage, charged a higher rate or otherwise discriminated against because of a pre-existing condition.

8 is also the number of lobbyists hired by special interests to influence health reform for every member of Congress in 2009.

The facts speak for themselves -- the status quo isn't working, and special interests are doing everything in their power to maintain that status quo.

Being denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition is something we all know is wrong. And for those 8 people every minute who can't find health coverage or face discrimination because of a pre-existing condition, reform can't wait.

It appears that the White House is putting on a full-court press to get a healthcare bill passed. Where do you stand on this issue?

John McCain: 'My Friends'

Karl Rove is a friend of John McCain. However, even Karl Rove is embarrassed by the dishonesty of the McCain campaign ads.

Personally, I think McCain doesn't understand the economic hurt that many of us feel when gas prices hover at $4/gallon and 6.1% unemployment rate (double that in the Black community) hits a five-year high and the stock market (including our 401(k) retirement funds) has largest loss since 9/11 attacks in 2001.

The problem might be that John McCain surrounds himself with friends who have the interests of their corporate clients at heart ... not the interests of villagers like you and me.



Obama is going after McCain's lobbyists, too. Yesterday he said, "If you think those lobbyists are working day and night for John McCain just to put themselves out of business, well I've got a bridge to sell you up in Alaska."

What say u? Does John McCain feel your pain or is he so tied up with lobbyists that he can no longer understand what is happening in America?

John McCain Sells Out to Big Oil

I notice that John McCain is becoming a one-note candidate with his constant rants in support of the Big Oil companies. Standing before a room of oil company executives in June, John McCain flip-flopped and declared support for coastal oil drilling. Now the Washington Post is reporting that, within days, oil and gas execs ponied up nearly $1 million to elect McCain.

When people think of Bush, they think "oil," but that's not true of McCain yet—even though his energy policy is almost identical to Bush's and his campaign is literally run by oil lobbyists! Check out this video for details:



What say u?