Fearmongering Obama: 'I Am the Eternal Optimist'

Could you imagine if this guy was a pessimist?

9 p.m. ET. At the end, the president says he's an optimist:

"I am the eternal optimist," Obama says, talking again about his hope that he'll be able to reach bipartisan agreements on key issues. "Over time, people respond to civility and a rational argument."

Translated: Any opposition to The One is uncivil and irrational.

I must admit this is the only portion of this press conference I caught since Obama decided to cut into the 9 pm ET hour and I was tuning in to see someone more optimistic about life: Jack Bauer.

I had to chuckle that he had the gall to call himself an optimist. If this is optimism, I'd hate to see pessimism.

Warning that a failure to act “could turn a crisis into a catastrophe,” Mr. Obama used his presidential platform — a prime-time news conference, the first of his presidency, in the grand setting of the White House East Room — to address head on the concerns about his approach, which has by and large failed to win the Republican support he sought.

Meanwhile, if there are any of you still optimistic after watching that sham, mull this over.

Tragically, no one from either party is objecting to the health provisions slipped in without discussion. These provisions reflect the handiwork of Tom Daschle, until recently the nominee to head the Health and Human Services Department.

Senators should read these provisions and vote against them because they are dangerous to your health. (Page numbers refer to H.R. 1 EH, pdf version).

The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual in the United States” (445, 454, 479). Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Having electronic medical records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate tests and errors.

But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.”

New Democrat motto: We have nothing to offer but fear itself.