American Government

AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
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(13th July, 2012)
American Government
Obama needed to win. And to do this he needed to prove to the American people that the country was still capable of solving big problems. He chose healthcare to test this case. At first it seemed like an easy road with employment of bipartisan politics in congress initially. They also had a 60 vote majority in their favor and as the main course, the president`s key strategy of employing the services of former congressional inciters and in particular Tom Daschle. Things looked even better as the pharmaceutical and insurance industry appeared to show support to the president`s health reform effort. The president even took a back seat to let the Congress come up with its own strategy to pass the document. But it was not to be. All this was very short lived and it was then that anyone could really see the workings of government in the law making process.
First there is need to analyze the role of lobbyists in lawmaking. Their task is to basically represent their client`s interests in the most positive way that they can. This means that they may sound cooperative when they actually mean the opposite. As the chief insurance industry lobbyist, Karen Ignagni went on record stating that she was ready to support the health reform program, only to later go back on her word and give impossible conditions for her support. From this we also learn that a lobbyist`s main aim is to get the most out of any deal, giving out the very least in return. Republicans were also determined to shoot down all the president`s attempts. To further cripple this reform program, Daschle had to resign because of financial scandals.
The program had now basically broken down and the white house team had no option but to go to bed with the enemy. They were forced through Max Baucus who had replaced Daschle to make a deal with lobbyist Billy Tauzin; Tauzin had made his reputation when he influenced the passing of the bogus 2003 Medicare Drug prescri...