Jackson, Frank Hold Health Care Town Halls

By Kevin Robinson in News on Aug 20, 2009 2:00PM

In the ongoing drama surrounding what may be the most ambitious piece of Barack Obama's social agenda, Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank and Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr both held town hall meetings the other day on the proposed health care legislation. Jackson's town hall, while peppered with protesters out front, was a study in how to hold a well-orchestrated public event.

On the East coast, Barney Frank, however, had to take the reigns of his town hall, calling out a woman who compared the proposed health care legislation to Hilter's Nazi Germany. Frank told the woman that "trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table. I have no interest in doing that."

In other health care news, rumor is that Obama may try to take a health care reform bill through congress without Republican support. The president says that he is "absolutely confident we are gonna get a bill, and I hope it's bipartisan." Congressional Democrats echoed that sentiment. "It is fair to say the White House and the Senate Democratic leadership still prefer a bipartisan bill, and neither the White House nor us has made any decision to pursue reconciliation yet," said Jim Manley, a Reid spokesman. "We will not make a decision to pursue reconciliation until we have exhausted efforts to pursue a bipartisan bill. But patience is not limited and we are determined to get something done this year."