The 39% President

In his victory speech after the passage of health care reform, President Obama stood before the American people and spoke about the importance of the health care vote. In dramatic terms, President Obama said that "we proved that we are still a people capable of doing big things and tackling our biggest challenges. We proved that this government -- a government of the people and by the people -- still works for the people." While Obama points to his bill's success as a victory for the people, it looks like many people would challenge that notion.

According to a recently released CNN poll, a large majority of people opposed the health care bill before its passgae. An article on CNN.com noted that the "poll found that 59 percent of those surveyed opposed the bill, and 39 percent favored it." The article later noted that "56 percent said the bill gives the government too much involvement in health care." A recent Rasmussen reports poll showed additional negative feelings about the bill before it was passed. According to that site, their poll found that "Fifty-seven percent (57%) believe that if the plan passes, the cost of health care will go up" and that "most voters (54%) believe that passage of the plan will hurt the quality of care."

If the American people are not the winners in this debate (and judging from their disapproval of the bill, they don't seem to be), one wonders who won out. It doesn't seem that the Congressional leaders who helped make this bill happen are the winners either. The Drudge Report recently linked to a CBS poll that showed that the approval rating of the Senate Majority Leader is currently at 8% and the approval rating of the Speaker of the House is at 11%. Neither of those public advocates of Obamacare seem to be winners in this debate, at least in the public eye.[# More #]

With this major piece of legislation, many pundits likely see President Obama as a winner for getting his reform through. Obama, who had previously stated that he would "rather be a really good one-term president rather than a mediocre two-term president" according to ABC News, did have a political victory in getting health care passed. That would be an honest assessment of the situation. Saying, as he did after the health care vote, that the bill's passage is "a victory for the American people" and that it proves that the government "still works for the people" are not.

According to the CNN.com poll noted above, less than 4 out of every ten people supported this health care bill. The passage of this bill was a lot of things but a victory for the American people is not one of them.