"HEALTH CARE VICTORY" (Commmunist Party U.S.A. Newspaper Applauds Passage Of Obamacare: No Joke)

Almost every sector of American society greeted yesterday's signing of a historic health care law as a major step toward guaranteeing affordable health insurance for all. Labor unions, health care professionals, small business owners, retirees, students, and ordinary people from throughout the country applauded President Obama and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for having the tenacity to push through what's being called the most sweeping health care legislation since the establishment of Medicare in the 1960s.

We join with those who hail this legislation both as a measure that will save lives now and begin curbing the insurance industry, and as a giant first step to further reforms that will provide quality, affordable health care for every person in the United States.

Beyond that, its passage is a major defeat for the far right - the Republican Party, sections of Corporate America, and their fascist-like tea party shock troops. The enactment of this bill is an enormous victory for the broad progressive movement in our country. It will give energy and enthusiasm to that movement as it mobilizes and builds for the struggles ahead to advance a pro-worker, pro-people agenda.

The far right has been left glaringly isolated but perhaps even more dangerously aggressive. These racist hate-mongers fought viciously to block the bill on behalf of the nation's insurance companies and now say they will continue their dirty campaign by trying to repeal it. But it's clear that an energized people's movement will not let that happen.

Even organizations and individuals critical of the bill (because of restrictions on women's reproductive rights, or its exclusion of undocumented immigrants, or because it doesn't go far enough) have acknowledged its importance and far-reaching implications.

The great majority of health care reform advocates, including those who call for a single-payer system, see the legislation as opening up space to further the struggle for Medicare for all. Many note the bill provides a number of immediate benefits.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called the bill's passage a "momentous step toward comprehensive coverage" and vowed that labor will continue to advocate for health care that works for working families.

The new law reestablishes the role of government in providing a "safety net" to support ordinary folks against the most outrageous excesses of our health care system. As President Obama put it, "It enshrines the idea that everybody should have universal health care."

The fight isn't over. The corporate-backed far right will continue to use racism, lies and anti-government conspiracy theories to try to scare and confuse people. We got some ugly glimpses of this just as Congress was on the eve of passing the health care bill.

Tea party protesters in Ohio yelled at and abused a man with Parkinson's disease because he was courageous enough to show his support for health care reform. In Washington, others yelled racist and homophobic epithets at members of Congress.

Some call it the tea-partiers' Bull Connor moment. Connor was the racist, pro-segregation "public safety" commissioner in Birmingham, Ala., who used dogs and fire hoses against African American children standing up against Jim Crow in the 1960s.

Just as the American people rejected the Bull Connor segregationists after seeing the fire-hosing of children in Birmingham, the American people will reject the vicious racism and hate-filled attacks of today's Bull Connors.

After almost a year of lobbying, demonstrations, petitions, rallies, health care story collections, town hall meetings, this is a moment to savor a hard-fought victory. And it's a moment to celebrate the persistence and tenacity of the people's movement for progressive change - a good thing since there are many more battles ahead.

Ah, but read what the Communists are saying at the Granma.Cu, Cuban Communist Party site:

http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/2010/03/24/interna/artic07.html

Excerpt: Barack Obama promulgó ley de reforma sanitaria WASHINGTON, 23 de marzo.— El presidente de Estados Unidos, Barack Obama, promulgó este martes la ley de reforma sanitaria, aprobada con voto de procedimiento la noche del domingo, con 224 sufragios a favor frente a 206 en contra, en la Cámara de Representantes, reporta Telesur. "La ley que promulgo hoy pondrá en marcha reformas por las que generaciones de este país han luchado durante años", aseguró el presidente, durante una ceremonia en la que estaban presentes los legisladores, que promovieron la reforma, así como también ciudadanos, que se beneficiarán de la medida. Obama dijo que la medida representa el mayor triunfo de su mandato y un logro que había esquivado a quienes le precedieron en el cargo. Se considera que este es el primer gran cambio de fondo de su presidencia, que mediante esta nueva norma extiende la cobertura médica a unos 32 millones de estadounidenses para el 2019, y además pretende reducir los costos del cuidado de salud e impone más exigencias a las aseguradoras.

Let me translate that for you:

Barack Obama health reform law enacted WASHINGTON, March 23 .- The U.S. president, Barack Obama, issued on Tuesday the health reform law, passed by a procedural vote on Sunday night with 224 votes in favor versus 206 against, the House of Representatives, Telesur reported. "The legislation I signed today will launch reforms that generations of this country have fought for years," said the president, during a ceremony in which legislators were present, which promoted the reform, as well as citizens who benefit from the measure. Obama said the bill represents the greatest triumph of his mandate and an achievement that had eluded those who preceded him in office. It is considered that this is the first fundamental change of his presidency, which by this new rule extends health coverage to some 32 million Americans by 2019, and therefore seeks to reduce health care costs and imposes more demands on insurers.

After reading the article at the World Socailist Web Site, you will discover that the Socialist are much brighter than the Communist. At least the Socialists who write for the site understand the lie that is Obamacare.

From the website of the Communist Party, USA...
(prior to the election)

"The Communist Party USA views the 2008 elections as a tremendous opportunity to defeat the policies of the right-wing Republicans and to move our country in a new progressive direction.

The record turnout in the Democratic Presidential primary races shows that millions of voters, including millions of new voters, are using this election to bring about real change. We wholeheartedly agree with them."

http://cpusa.org/cpusa-2008-electoral-policy/
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After the election....

A Landslide Mandate For Change

A breakthrough election
Congratulations on an extraordinary history making election!

We can think back with pride to decades of hard work toward our strategic goal of a big enough, broad enough and united enough labor and all-people’s movement that could overcome the ultra-right blockage to all progress. That all people’s movement has come to life, it is dynamic and it has the potential to keep growing.

The election of Barack Obama and a strengthened Congress creates new conditions in our country. There is now the possibility to shift gears and move forward. This new day requires us to further develop our tactics in order to continue to deepen and broaden labor and people’s unity.

There are thousands of experiences that we all have had in these momentous days, some large, some small, all of which express the enormity of change in thinking and readiness for involvement that is underway and that steels us for the battles ahead.

The tears of joy we all shared as crowds gathered to watch the election results here and throughout the world dramatize the new moment we are in.

http://cpusa.org/a-landslide-mandate-for-change-report-to-the-national-committee-meeting-11-15-08/
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July 1, 2009...

Change is Here, Change is Coming

Sam Webb, National Chair, Communist Party, USA:

Let me begin with a simple observation: If the last 30 years were an era of reaction, then the coming decade could turn into an era of reform, even radical reform. Six months into the Obama presidency, I would say without hesitation that the landscape, atmosphere, conversation, and agenda have strikingly changed compared to the previous eight years.

In this legislative session, we can envision winning a Medicare-like public option and then going further in the years ahead.

We can visualize passing tough regulatory reforms on the financial industry, which brought the economy to ruin.

We can imagine the troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan while U.S. representatives participate in a regional process that brings peace and stability to the entire region.

In the current political climate, the expansion of union rights becomes a real possibility.

Much the same can be said about winning a second stimulus bill, and we sure need one, given the still-rising rate, and likely long term persistence, of unemployment.

Isn’t it possible in the Obama era to create millions of green jobs in manufacturing and other sectors of the economy in tandem with an attack on global warming?

Can’t we envision taking new strides in the long journey for racial and gender equality in this new era, marked at its beginning by the election of the first African American to the presidency?

And isn’t the overhaul of the criminal justice and prison system – a system steeped in racism – no longer pie-in-the sky, but something that can be done in the foreseeable future?

All these things are within reach now!

http://cpusa.org/change-is-here-change-is-coming/
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"Barack Obama told supporters that
'change has come to America' as he
claimed victory in a historic presidential election."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/04/election.president/index.html

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