One Year Later: Where’s Obama?
Today the President will observe the one-year anniversary of the signing of Obamacare in…El Salvador. As he wraps up his overseas trip to Latin America, the President isn’t scheduled to arrive back in Washington until early this evening, and no health care events are listed on his calendar.
There are of course many competing demands on any President’s schedule, not least in the wake of recent events in the Middle East and Japan. But the fact that the President decamped on an overseas trip during the one-year anniversary of Obamacare may seem particularly striking to some, because of the way he postponed a scheduled trip to Asia as the bill neared passage in March 2010. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said then that “passage of health insurance reform is of paramount importance, and the President is determined to see this battle through.” Speaker Pelosi complimented the President for his decision last year, saying “this is historical. I’m sure he wants to be here for the history.” From this perspective, the contrast from events 12 short months ago is stark.
Also last March, Speaker Pelosi famously said we had to pass the bill to find out what’s in it. Given that he is spending the one-year anniversary of Obamacare completing an overseas trip, some may wonder whether the President finally took Speaker Pelosi’s advice.