Posts Tagged ‘obama’

Obama Birther Poll re-retires

Wednesday, December 29th, 2010

APRIL 29TH 2011 Following on from Obama releasing his long form birth certificate we have again retired this poll. Obviously there are many people who still have issues but it is no longer a mainstream debate. At the point of closing this poll only 36% of our voters thought he was a citizen.

DEC 29TH 2010: We have decided to bring our Obama birther poll back to life. The poll is entitled Is Obama an American Citizen? and was one of our very first polls in late 2008 because it was a very topical issue then. The poll was popular in terms of garnering votes but it also generated more complaints than any other poll mostly because many people said this is not a real political issue but a fringe issue and taking it seriously denigrates the Office of President and democracy itself.

In the end however we decided plenty of mainstream press covered the issue and while no senior politician gave it oxygen quite a number of politicians did and a number of popular commentators. And people voted on it. So we decided it is a legitimate political issue. As an apolitical forum dedicated to promoting global democratic discourse our only concern is that issues are legitimately political regardless of whether a particular debate is in good taste or “politically correct”.

Over time interest dwindled and we closed the poll. However the issue has been reborn with some verve because of two people in the public eye.

With the Obama family spending time in Hawaii over the 2010 holiday season the new Governor of Hawaii, Neil Abercrombie, has been talking to the Press Corps and wants to put to rest the birther controversy. He was a friend of Obama’s parents and claims the birthers have “a political agenda not worthy of any good American.”

Then Andy Martin, the self-proclaimed ‘king of the birthers,’ announced he’ll run for president. Actually he will run for the Republican nomination for president on a “birther” platform.

To vote in the poll click here. When we turned it off the poll was showing 60% of our voters believing Obama is NOT a citizen.

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Posted in Politics - U.S., QuickPolls | No Comments »

Healthcare reform: White House appears ready to drop ‘public option’

Sunday, August 16th, 2009

Apparently ready to abandon the idea, President Barack Obama’s health secretary said Sunday a government alternative to private health insurance is “not the essential element” of the administration’s health care overhaul.

The White House indicated it could jettison the contentious public option and settle on insurance cooperatives as an acceptable alternative, a move embraced by some Republicans lawmakers who have strongly opposed the administration’s approach so far.

Officials from both political parties reached across the aisle in an effort to find compromises on proposals they left behind when they returned to their districts for an August recess. Obama has been pressing for the government to run a health insurance organization to help cover the nation’s almost 50 million uninsured.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said theWhite House would be open to co-ops instead of a government-run public option, a sign Democrats want a compromise so they can declare a victory on the must-win showdown.

“I think there will be a competitor to private insurers,” she said. “That’s really the essential part, is you don’t turn over the whole new marketplace to private insurance companies and trust them to do the right thing. We need some choices, we need some competition.”

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said co-ops might be a politically acceptable alternative as “a step away from the government takeover of the health care system” that the GOP has assailed.

Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., chairman of the Senate’s budget committee, pushed the co-op model as an alternative, saying it has worked in other business models.

more… http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090816/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_health_care_overhaul_4;_ylt=A9j8eOgEK4hK6yYBNwGspph4

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Posted in Politics - U.S., lifestyle/health | 1 Comment »