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Talking about ratings and the job at hand in Washington DC after the town hall disturbances …
MENLO PARK, CA — Public support for health reform ended its summer slide, reversed course and moved modestly upwards in September, according to the latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll.
Fifty-seven percent of Americans now believe that tackling health care reform is more important than ever — up from 53 percent in August. The proportion of Americans who think their families would be better off if health reform passes is up six percentage points (42% versus 36% in August), and the percentage who think that the country would be better off is up eight points (to 53% from 45% in August).
Kff - Kaiser Family Foundation poll
“Opinion in the coming months is hard to predict, but as the focus shifted from the town halls and hot button issues to the President, the Congress and the core issues in the legislation that affect people the most, the summer downturn in support was largely erased,” said Kaiser President and CEO Drew Altman.
WASHINGTON DC (AP) – The fever has broken. The patient is out of intensive care. But if you’re President Barack Obama, you can’t stop pacing the waiting room. Health care overhaul is still in guarded condition.
The latest Associated Press-GfK poll (pdf) has found that opposition to Obama’s health care remake dropped dramatically in just a matter of weeks. Still, Americans remain divided over complex legislation that Democrats are advancing in Congress.
The public is split 40-40 on supporting or opposing the health care legislation, the poll found. An even split is welcome news for Democrats, a sharp improvement from September, when 49 percent of Americans said they opposed the congressional proposals and just 34 percent supported them.
In a significant change, opposition among older Americans dropped 16 percentage points. Seniors have been concerned that Congress would stick them with the bill by cutting Medicare to pay for covering the uninsured. Among the most reliable voters, they were much more wary of the changes than the public as a whole. The gap has narrowed.
The poll found that 68 percent of Democrats support the congressional plans, up from 57 percent in early September. Opposition among independents plunged from 51 percent to 36 percent. However, only 29 percent of independents currently support the plans in Congress.
Among seniors, opposition fell from 59 percent in September to 43 percent now. Almost four in 10, 38 percent, now support it, compared with 31 percent in September.
NEW YORK (AP) – President Barack Obama’s approval ratings are starting to rise after declining ever since his inauguration, new poll figures show as the country’s mood begins to brighten. But concerns about the economy, health care and war persist, and support for the war in Afghanistan is falling.
An Associated Press-GfK poll says 56 percent of those surveyed in the past week approve of Obama’s job performance, up from 50 percent in September. It’s the first time since he took office in January that his rating has gone up.
People also feel better about his handling of the economy and his proposed health care overhaul.
But not about the war.
Support for the war in Afghanistan has declined and approval of Obama’s handling of it is holding steady — in contrast to his gains in other areas — as he considers a big troop increase there. Poll respondents narrowly oppose the increase.
Overall, 39 percent said they disapproved of Obama’s performance in office, down from 49 percent last month.
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The four prelates were Archbishop Gabriel Palmer-Buckle of Accra, Ghana; Archbishop Simon Ntamwana of Gitega, Burundi; Archbishop John Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria; and Auxiliary Bishop William Avenya of Makurdi, Nigeria.
I asked the four bishops for a reaction to Monsengwo’s reading of Obama in terms of salvation history.
“It’s almost like a Biblical story repeating itself,” Palmer-Buckle said, referring to Obama’s election. “Joseph was sold by his own brothers into slavery in Egypt, and he went on to become basically the prime minister of the country. In the case of Obama, his ancestors weren’t sold, but his father wandered into America, where his son has gone on to become the country’s president.”
“We think God has his own reasons, that he really directs history,” Palmer-Buckle said, “and therefore we don’t think a thing like that [Obama’s election] is just by chance. There must a divine plan behind it.”
“We have to take hope” from Obama, Ntamwana said. “Americans seemed very united behind Obama’s presidency, and so we have said okay, we are dealing with some very, very hard things in Africa, and so we can hope that something is possible for us too.”
“Yesterday,” Ntamwana said, “it would not have been so easy to believe that a black American could have been president of the United States.” He called Obama’s ascent a “special blessing of the Lord,” expressing hope that it might set a precedent for resolving “forty to fifty years of civil wars in different countries” in Africa.
Onaiyekan, who has a reputation as one of the more outspoken church leaders in Africa, said he wasn’t so much interested in the providential logic behind Obama’s election as what it might mean in practice for his continent.
In the first place, Onaiyekan said, Obama’s example could help break the stranglehold that ethnicity and tribal loyalties often have on African politics.
“It’s been said in Africa that a Luo can be elected as the president of America, but he can’t be the president of Kenya,” Onaiyekan said, referring to the Kenyan tribe to which Obama’s father belonged.
“The political situation in Africa makes it impossible,” Onaiyekan said, but now Africa has seen that “in American it [ethnicity] doesn’t matter.” He called that “a big lesson for us,” that “if someone is capable, they should be recognized.”
Obama: Africa’s Big Brother
“Obama has the authority to talk straight to our bad leaders and tell them they are messing up our countries,” he said. Besides, he added, “In Africa we are always happy when our brother is big.”
Ghanaian cardinal destined to be an ecclesiastical star
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.".
WASHINGTON (AP) — Health care legislation drafted by a key Senate committee would expand coverage to 94 percent of all eligible Americans at a 10-year cost of $829 billion, congressional budget experts said Wednesday, a preliminary estimate likely to power the measure past a major hurdle within days.
The Congressional Budget Office added that the measure would reduce federal deficits by $81 billion over a decade and probably lead to “continued reductions in federal budget deficits” in the years beyond.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."so there’ll still be, in ten years, 16.75 million people uinsured.
l’m sorry, this is unacceptable.
we’ve billions upon billions for ill advised wars, defense programs…which are nothing more that government welfare for the MI complex… and close to a trillion dollars to bail out the banksters and we can’t find the intestinal fortitude to provide adequate health care for everyone now?
there’s something seriously wrong with this scenario.
so there’ll still be, in ten years, 16.75 million eligible people uninsured.
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CONCORD, N.H. (AP) Oct. 9, 2009 – A federal law inspired by a New Hampshire woman’s courage and enacted through her mother’s determination took effect Friday, sparing seriously ill or injured college students from having to choose between taking time off and keeping their health insurance.
“Michelle’s Law” allows college students to take up to a year off school for medical reasons and remain on their family’s health insurance plan. It is named for Michelle Morse, who died of colon cancer at age 22 in 2005, six months after graduating from Plymouth State University.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."