At the end of President Barack Obama's statement Wednesday morning concerning a number of pending bills before Congress, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.) interrupted him to offer some truly sycophantic praise about all the good he's doing for the nation:
You, under your leadership and working with this Congress, have done more to promote healthcare to move it along, prevention, technology, the biomedical research, children's health, veterans' health, than has been done in our country since Medicare was established in the '50s.
Medicare was established in the '50s?
Um, no Madame Speaker, for Medicare and Medicaid were both established under the Social Security Act of 1965.
Think media members when they report this interesting interruption at the end of this brief event -- pretty uncommon for someone to interrupt the President this way! -- will point out her lack of basic historical knowledge concerning this entitlement program?
Yes, that is rhetorical, as is whether or not anyone will challenge her statement even if she had gotten Medicare's commencement correct.
After all, doesn't her praise completely ignore the greatest expansion to Medicare in history, namely the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2003?
How silly of me, for the only thing that happened that year as far as the media are concerned was the invasion of Iraq.
Please accept my apologies for bringing it up.
For those that can stand it, here is the complete text of what Pelosi said at the end of the President's announcement:
Mr. President, may I say something? You talked about what happened this week, but I think it's important to note that under your leadership, since you became President, whether it was signing and taking the lead on the SCHIP, the children's health insurance, or the health IT that is in the recovery package, or other legislation that has gone along. You, under your leadership and working with this Congress, have done more to promote healthcare to move it along, prevention, technology, the biomedical research, children's health, veterans' health, than has been done in our country since Medicare was established in the '50s. So, already you have a remarkable record where down the path we're going to get the job done. But I thank you for the leadership you have provided already this year.
