Does President Barack Obama have any friends left at all? It seems everyone is taking political pot shots at the guy. And it is not just conservatives and libertarians either. You have comedian Jon Stewart, a member of the mainstream media and an unapologetically staunch liberal, chastising the Obama administration for not pounding home the message of public-option while at the same praising the Bush presidency. Did we slip into some weird parallel dimension or something? Then there’s the far-left blogosphere that went totally unhinged when Kathleen Sebelius said the public option proposal was not ‘essential’ for the president’s health care reform bill, with some, especially at America Blog, calling for Howard Dean to replace Obama as the Democratic presidential candidate in 2012.
But now Air America Media, formerly Air America Radio, is attacking the president for his backroom deal with Billy Tauzin, President and CEO of PhRMA, an industry trade group representing the pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies in the United States. The deal entails the drug industry agreeing to give Americans a future savings of $80 billion on the condition that President Obama agrees not to negotiate for lower drug prices. The kicker in this (outside the fact that he broke a prominent campaign promise to include the American people in any negotiates made with lobbyists and that there would no longer be any backroom deals in Washington under his reign) is that Obama’s own administration announced that over the next ten years Americans will spend roughly $3.6 trillion for prescription drugs. That $80 billion in future savings covers roughly two percent of that.
The audio showcased in the video below features guest radio host Christiane Brown talking with investigative reporter Greg Palast:
Want to know what the real scary part about this conversation is? Greg Palast poses the question of whether “the people out there screaming and breaking up the discussion at town meetings are correct.” Has the world gone mad? Next thing you know dogs and cats will be living together. Mass Hysteria!
